


Born To Be A Thief

by XGothicxAngelX



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Platonic Relationships, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:00:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9303254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XGothicxAngelX/pseuds/XGothicxAngelX
Summary: This is a fanfiction about my Breton OC Catriona Mallory. It will be focused on the Thieves Guild more than anything else that goes on in the game. Oh and another side note: She is not the Dragonborn. She is one of the few of my Skyrim OCs who will not be given Akatosh's gift. She is the daughter of the master thief Delvin Mallory, and her mother is named Enora Leroux. Delvin didn't stick around after she and him had slept together after a drunken one night stand, but he didn't do it to be a dick, he did it for the safety of Enora. He didn't want her to get in trouble for being associated with him if he happened to get caught by the guards for the large bounty he had on his head. He told her he would write her as much as possible to keep in contact with one another. And plus, he never knew he got her pregnant since she forgot to mention it in her letters. Growing up, Catriona, had special “skills” including picking pockets and stealing things without people noticing. More information will be put into the chapters as they go.





	1. A Night To Remember

Delvin was on a bedlam job when he first met Enora. He was also quite young at this time. Only about 24 years of age. Once he stole enough goods from all the now closed shops around this town, he decided to stop at the Inn for a drink...or two...or three. He would decide when he got into the Inn. He was wearing his makeshift thief armor, since this was before Skyrim and before he joined the Guild in Riften. His makeshift armor was brown leather, with a pretty loose hood, but it still concealed his face. He also wore a rather large knapsack slung around his shoulder. The hood was pretty large, and a little loose, but he didn't care as long as it didn't fully show his face. The armor itself was just leather and sleeveless with a lot of pockets. He was grinning the whole way over to the Inn because of his successful haul. He stole a lot of gemstones, septims, golden statuettes, enchanted daggers, and strange/unusual trinkets. He always had an interest in unique loot, but never knew why he was though. Delvin finally found the Inn and entered.

Once he opened the door, some patrons looked in his direction and eyed him suspiciously. Others just ignored him and stayed focused on their drinks, and the person they were chatting with next to them. The Innkeeper and the barmaid/bard were the ones that eyed him the most. The Innkeeper was an older Breton man, he had graying hair, and forming wrinkles on his face. His hair was very short as well. Delvin approached the bar ignoring all the patrons still eyeing him like he was going to rob them all blind if they didn't pay attention to his every movement. But, of course, being the man he is...he just smirked the whole way over to the bar. Half his face concealed by the hood, the other half slightly more exposed, but not enough for anyone here to be able to describe his face to the local guards. He let his heavy knapsack stay over his shoulder as he plopped down onto a bar stool and put one arm on the counter kind of lazily, and the other on his thigh and said, in his thick, cockney British accent,  
“So...ya gunna stare at me pretty self all night or ya gunna serve me an ale?”  
The Innkeeper said nothing and just set a bottle of ale in front of him, but not without wiping that look of suspicion off his face. Delvin just smirked at him under his hood and said, voice thick with sarcasm,   
“Thank ya kindly, mate...”  
The Innkeeper just scoffed, and gave him a fake smile, and a nod of his head. Delvin uncorked his ale, still smirking, and took a big gulp of it. Then set it back down with a sigh of content. The barmaid/bard was singing some type of song but Delvin wasn't paying attention to her. He heard the door to the Inn open again and the Innkeeper smiled in the direction of the door, which caused Delvin to turn slightly to see who entered. He had to do a double take because the woman that walked in just now was absolutely beautiful. She had slightly sun-kissed skin, high cheekbones, light green eyes, slight freckles sprinkled in various places on her face and what he could see of the rest of her body. Her hair was long, wavy and dirty blonde. She was also wearing a nice, fitting blue dress that hugged her in all the right places. 

He couldn't stop looking at her as she approached the bar and started to speak with the Innkeeper, he just kept staring at her. She didn't seem to notice. But she caught him staring at her in the corner of her eye, and she side glanced at him, Delvin saw this and just slowly flashed her a smirk that could make any girl swoon especially since he had his hood on. Girls seemed to love the hood of a thief's armor for some reason. She smiled slightly at his smirk and looked away quickly to try and hide her blush that was forming on her face. He knew she saw him looking at her and that just made him chuckle at her reaction and get back to his ale. Once he looked away, he was still smirking, but she thought he had decided to ignore her presence. She became a little pouty, and tried to make him not notice her move to the bar stool next to him. He knew she was next to him now and he turned his head slightly to look at her. She was acting casually, but she was doing it terribly. He knew by how she was sitting in the bar stool with her legs crossed and her chin in her hand, while her elbow rested on the counter, that she was trying to get his attention again. He chuckled again, quietly enough so she couldn't hear. She again started to get more attention seeking of him and cleared her throat “nonchalantly.”

Delvin then decided to turn to face her fully, she could only see one half of his face though and she smiled at him a little bit flirtatious and he smiled back saying,  
“Can I, uh, help ya there, miss?”  
She kind of smiled a bit wider said, sounding flirtatious, also having a British accent, but more proper than Delvin's,  
“Oh...sorry. Was I...bothering you, sir?”  
“No...not at all. Actually...I couldn't help but notice ya walk in. What is a girl like yo'self doin' in a place like this alone and so late?” he said, flashing her that smirk that made her blush the first time.  
She giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder saying,  
“Well...I work a shop and I usually don't leave till about an hour or so after closing because of cleaning. Then I come here for a drink or two, and after that I head home.”  
“Oh. Would ya like me to buy ya a drink, miss--?” he started, gesturing for her name, still smiling at her.  
“Enora Leroux. And I couldn't ask that of you, um--” she started, also gesturing for his name.  
“Enora, eh? Lovely name...much like yo'self if I may add. I'm Delvin Mallory, pleasure to make your aquaintance, Miss Leroux. Or are you a Mrs.?” he responded.  
“Oh no. I-I'm a Miss. I've never been married.” she said.  
“Oh, ya haven't have ya?” he asked, sounding glad she wasn't married or already taken.  
“No. I've been single my whole life basically. And, um, what about yourself? You...have a special lady in your life?” she responded, sounding very unsure if he was with anyone.  
“Who? Little ole me? Nah...never had a long-term girlfriend let alone a wife. Just...in my line of work...I wouldn't want to get a special lady involved wif it is all.” he said, trying to avoid further talk of what he does for work since they were in a public place and all.

She was quiet for a moment before asking the Innkeeper for a mead. The keeper gave it to her with a smile. She uncorked it and drank a lot of it in one gulp almost. Delvin raised his brows in surprise, then chuckled enough for her to hear. She looked over to him and smiled, chuckling with him saying,  
“What? Something I did?”  
“Nuffin' bad. I ain't never seen a woman down that much mead in one gulp before is all. A lady after me own heart.” he responded, smiling.  
She giggled at that and they continued to talk and drink basically the rest of the night. To the point of both being pretty buzzed but not blindly drunk, but this little social time turned into something much more...

Enora's house door basically got slammed open as Delvin and her were in a very intense lip lock. Delvin shut the door behind them. His hood was now down, and she could see his face now. She thought he was just as handsome as she had thought he would have been. He had a slight buzzed hair style, his hair was dark brown, and his eyes were brown. She loved everything she saw about his face. He had her against her wooden wall, still in their lip lock session. Clothes started to get stripped off both individuals, and tossed aside. He pulled away just to get her off the wall and lift her up into his arms, carrying her over to her bedroom. He put her down onto the bed and it was a little rough too, but Enora didn't seem to mind at all. They were both down to wearing nothing now. Delvin was on top of her of course, and they continued to have their little escapade with one another. He kissed her jawline and down to her neck causing her to let out a small moan. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her. He kissed his way down to her chest, and kept kissing lower...and lower...he stopped at her hips and kissed them softly, and slowly, making her moan at the tender feeling on her sensitive skin.

He smirked against her skin and glanced up at her, seeing her face in complete ecstasy, her eyes slightly open, her mouth slightly agape, as she breathed small, short breaths. She was very aroused. It wasn't the alcohol doing this for any of them. They both felt a...connection somehow. He continued to kiss her abdomen and hips, and made his way down to her inner thighs. Kissing her there...made her let out a louder moan, because of how much more sensitive that skin seemed to be on any woman. She was moaning a lot now. His left hand was caressing from the side of her chest all the way down to her hip. He kissed his way back up to her lips. His feeling of arousal becoming more dominant, he kissed her rather urgently again, taking both her wrists in his left hand and pinning them above her head, while his right hand wandered her naked body. He caressed her curves and thigh. She moaned as he had her arms pinned and how he was caressing her just intensified it all for her making her get closer to the edge with every passing moment. He was kissing her neck again, but not slowly, it was hungrily, just making her moan even louder once again. She spoke, in a breathy and aroused tone,  
“Delvin...ugh...take me now...please...”  
He smirked against her skin again and said, also sounding rather aroused,  
“As you wish...Enora...”  
With that his hand stopped on her thigh and he wrapped her leg around his waist, and she pulled him to her signaling that she wanted him...and she wanted him now. She wrapped her other leg around his waist as well. He unpinned her arms from above her head and she immediately put them on his back. And finally, after what seemed like such a long time for Enora, he entered her. Nice and rough too. He's a thief, what else kind of fornication would they want to do besides rough?

She gasped in pleasure at his entrance, and her hands were still on his back. He began to rock in and out of her at a rather quick pace. Not too quick mind you, he didn't want to hurt her, you know. She moaned at every thrust he did. When she pulled him closer to her with her legs, this made him let out a pleasurable groan, since she caused him to go deeper making them both enjoy it even more. He surprised her when he switched their positions making her be on top now, she liked the position change and it didn't cause him to exit her either. She smirked and bit her bottom lip feeling devious already. He was breathing heavily, so was she. She began rocking her hips, slowly. His hands were on her hips and hers were on his chest. She got quicker as she started to get used to the feeling of the position, making a series of groans and moans to come from both of their lips. Delvin was starting to reach the edge of his climax, and she felt like she was getting there too. He quickly switched their positions again, making him back on top, he continued his pace that he had before switching them the first time, but it was a bit faster this time. She was clawing his back, making him growl in pleasure. Both of their moans and groans were starting to turn into screaming one another's names as they both reached their climax together. He thrust a few more times, then exited her. Both were sweating and breathing heavily. Enora had her arms raised next to her, but they were resting on the pillow her head was on. He collapsed on top of her, and gently kissed her lips. She gladly kissed back. He then got off of her and laid next to her, she automatically cuddled close to him and he covered both of them with her blanket. Her head was resting on his chest and so was her hand. He had one hand behind his head, while he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, gently caressing her soft, smooth skin. She then spoke softly saying,  
“Delvin...?”  
“Yeah?” he responded, glancing down at her.  
She also looked up at him and continued, saying,  
“What is it that you do for a job? You say it's too dangerous to involve anyone you care about.”  
“Oh...uuhh...it's nuffin', love...” he responded, hesitant to tell her.  
“Come on Delv...you can't keep it from me now. Especially after that amazing sex we just had.” she responded, giving him a pouty face and boo-boo lip.  
He chuckled at her expression and said,  
“Can't disagree wif that...well, awright...I'll tell ya, sweetheart.”  
“Well...?” she said, pushing for an answer with a smile.  
“I'm...a...um...thief. I lie...I cheat...and I steal. All to make a good profit for myself. Master pickpocket and master at bedlam jobs, which is when I steal whatever valuable item I can get my hands on then sell them to unaware merchants for 'bout 10 times more than they're worth. Pretty much a con man too. Well...I told ya what I do for a livin'...what do ya think of it?” He explained, then looked at her again to see if she had a negative reaction, but she didn't. She seemed like she had a dreamy, and look of admiration on her face.  
“Wow...a thief? Very...sexy. Well, I'm pretty glad I got to bed a master thief, then.” she said, looking slightly aroused once again.  
“Really, now? If I'd of known you were so into thieves...I woulda told ya sooner, love.” he responded, smirking. She just smiled and tilted her head up to kiss his lips again. They both drifted off to sleep shortly after.   
The next morning, Enora woke up to an empty space next to her. She became worried, and sat up, with the blanket clung to her still naked body. She held it in place on her chest. She looked around frantically and called out, sounding upset and worried,  
“D-Delvin? Are you still here?”  
When she got no response, she got out of bed grabbing a silk robe on her nightstand nearby her bed and put it on. She looked around and saw the clothes she wore last night that were strewn out all over her house were all neatly folded and on the end table at the foot of her bed. She also saw a folded up note on top of them and she picked it up slowly, and opened it. It read:

Enora,   
I had an amazing time with you last night. If you're reading this I'll be gone. I apologize I just up and left you in the middle of the night...but like I said I couldn't bring myself to involve you into my line of work. It's a dangerous job, ya know? I couldn't bear being the one who would be responsible if you were to ever get harmed because of being with me. We can stay in contact with one another via letters. I still want to hear from you, because we have a connection that I've never felt with any other woman in my past. Let me know, if you need anything...anything at all, love. I will miss you, Enora. If you ever wish to see me again...I'm relocating to Skyrim, and moving to the city Riften. I would love to see you again. Please...don't hate me for this, I just don't want to cause you to get harmed in any way. Best of luck...I love you, Enora. I truly do. Farewell, my love.  
With Love,   
Delvin Mallory

She held the note in her hands a little longer, and she felt tears begin to sting her eyes, threatening to escape. She wasn't almost to the point of tears because she was upset that he left her right after they made love, she was crying because she felt like she would never get to see him again, and because he told her that he loved her in the letter. It made her happy that he actually cared about her and loved her with all his heart. She felt the same, even though they had only just met last night. It was an automatic connection between them and she was very grateful for it. She read the letter a few more times and she stored it away in her nightstand. She wiped away a few stray tears from her face, and started to get ready for another day of work at her shop. 

Little did Enora know, that her time with Delvin last night caused something life changing to happen to her...


	2. Life Changer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enora Finds Out Some Very Shocking News...

It had been about two weeks since Enora had that night with Delvin. She had actually been feeling a little sick for about 5 days now. She hasn't thrown up at all, just felt very nauseous. She kept running her shop even though she didn't feel like herself. She still didn't get a lot of business. She actually decided to close her store early and go to the local doctor in town just to see if everything was okay and to find out why she felt so sick lately. 

As she walked on the cobblestone streets of her town she said hello to the people she knew personally as they passed her on the street. She finally made it to Doctor Madarick's office. She opened the door and he greeted her right away saying,  
“Ah, Miss Leroux! Good to see you again. Do you need those pain reliever potions again?”  
“Hello, Dr. Madarick. No, I just figured I was due for a check up by now.” she responded, smiling.  
“Oh of course, Enora. Come on over and sit down on the bed here. I'll check your vitals and make sure everything is fine.” he spoke, with a friendly smile on his face.  
She nodded and sat down onto the bed. He checked her vitals and they were good. She then spoke up after awhile and said,  
“Doctor...I have a question to ask.”  
“Of course. What is it you need?” he responded.  
“I have been feeling sick for the past 2 days, and I also missed my period which was supposed to happen about 4 days ago and it hasn't...I really don't know what is wrong.” she said, looking worried.

He put his hand under his chin and looked deep in thought. He then muttered out a “hmm.” Then he got up to retrieve a book from his shelf. He was experienced in the medical and healing field but wasn't that gifted in anything else. He opened up a hard cover, red and faded book. He flipped through a few pages and stopped on one saying,  
“Ah...here are the symptoms you told me of.”  
He went back over to sit down in the chair next to the bed again, and continued,  
“Miss Leroux...you are not sick. You are with child.”  
He smiled after saying that and she was silent...for a long time. He actually had to snap his fingers in front of her face to get her attention and she winced as she got back to reality and said, stuttering,  
“I-I-I'm...p-p-pregnant...?”  
“Yes you are, Enora. Congratulations. I know this is probably very shocking news to you but I am happy for you. Children are the Nine Divines' gifts to us mortals. All are miracles. Does your boyfriend know?” he said.  
“U-Um...th-thank y-you....but, uh...no...he doesn't know. He doesn't know at all...” she said, still shocked.  
“Oh! Well you probably want to head on home and tell him the news then. I'll let you go now, Miss Leroux. Have a blessed day and may the Divines keep you safe. And congratulations once more, Enora.” he responded, smiling.  
She slowly nodded her head and forced a smile. She headed home rather quickly. When she got back home, she shut her door slowly and leaned her back against it and slowly slid down to the ground. She pulled her knees up to her chest and started to become worried and wondered how she would tell Delvin that he had impregnated her in her next letter to him. They had been exchanging letters but none had arrived just yet since High Rock and Skyrim were so far from one another. She sat there on the ground for awhile...not knowing what to do being a single mother once this baby was born. She was already struggling with money for just herself. She then wiped away the stray tears that had escaped, she wasn't unhappy about being pregnant, she was just very worried. 

Delvin knew nothing about this, and she didn't know if she should tell him about it. She thought it through and decided to keep it to herself, and would tell her son or daughter about his/her father once they were old enough to understand why Delvin had left her that night and about what he did for a living. She would be brave and raise this child on her own, even if she was struggling enough just keeping herself situated. She would love this baby with all her heart and soul, and keep him/her safe from harm. She got up off the floor and decided to try and go to bed early tonight.

She had a lot on her mind, and even though she wouldn't tell Delvin since it would end up making him feel guilty about leaving her that night since he ended up getting her pregnant. He would have felt like a total dick about leaving. She did struggle through the pregnancy and struggled to pay for all the visits she had to do with Dr. Madarick, but she pulled through it all and was successful with being able to handle it all, but she had a very close friend of hers named Esme help her out around the town and her shop once she had gotten much bigger and really couldn't do much lifting. She hoped for life to keep going this smoothly once this baby would be brought into this world.


	3. The Birth Of A Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9 Months Later...Enora Gives Birth

Enora had gone into labor and was once again at Dr. Madarick's office. Esme was with her, and right next to her through the birth. She was having a hard time though. Esme was becoming worried, and looked at Dr. Madarick and said, also in a proper British accent,  
“Please! She's struggling. We need to get this baby born and as quick as you can do it.”  
“I-I'm trying, Esme. Enora...listen to me. You must push...or the baby may suffocate. We don't want anything fatal to happen to either of you.” he said, calmly. Soothing Enora's tension she had written all over her face.  
“Aah! It's...it's so...ngh...painful...” Enora cried out, tears and sweat on her face.  
“C'mon hon...you are doing great.” Esme said, reassurance in her tone and a smile on her face.  
Enora pushed with as much strength she could muster at the moment. She screamed and cried out in pain. The sheets in between her legs were blood soaked and The doctor was also pretty bloodied up. He was sweating as well and was also giving her comforting smiles to help her out with all this pressure she was feeling. 

She pushed and pushed, until finally her baby was born. She heard the baby's first cries as she pushed out the last of her child. She laid her head back onto the pillow, which was now soaked with sweat, and she was breathing heavily, and she was also smiling slightly at the sound of her baby's little cries. Dr. Madarick smiled, widely and said,  
“Congratulations, Enora, you have given birth to a very healthy baby girl.”  
Her friend, Esme, wiped away some happy tears and the doctor said, to her, smiling,  
“Um, Esme, dear, could you please heal Enora up for me? I have to clean off her little girl.”   
“Of course, doctor.” she responded.  
He nodded and then walked over to his washing basin to clean her off and to detach the cord from her. Esme was using a very powerful and advanced version of healing hands, and it healed Enora up very quickly. It closed her wound up and made her feel less pain. The doctor wrapped her baby up into a fluffy, fur blanket and brought her back over to Enora. He was still smiling and handed her the baby. Enora sat up as quick as she could handle right now, and gladly took her little girl into her arms. The doctor continued to clean up Enora, since the spell used didn't rid her of the excess blood she had on her.   
As she held her baby, she just smiled at her and cried once again. She was so happy to finally see her and to actually be holding her and Delvin's daughter in her arms. Once Enora was cleaned off, Dr. Madarick said,  
“I'll leave you to get acquainted with your new bundle of joy. It's very upsetting her father wasn't here to see her be brought into this world, though.” 

Enora smiled and nodded saying,  
“Well...if he wasn't serving in the Imperial Legion...he would have been able to see her. But he is helping protect us all from the Rebels.”  
She had lied to both Esme and Dr. Madarick that her baby's father was an Imperial soldier serving in the army since she didn't want them to know he was really a random thief that she had a one-night stand with, and that he had left for her own protection. The doctor nodded at what she said, and Esme also left her to be alone with her daughter. Esme gave her a smile smile and a pat on her shoulder before leaving. Enora then looked at her baby in her arms and said, in a cooing tone,  
“Hello, baby girl. I'm so glad to finally meet you...I love you very much. Your father would have loved to meet you too. I'm sure he would love you just as much as I do if he knew about you. Now...what should I name you? Hmm...oh! I've got the perfect name. I'll name you Catriona...and I'll give you your daddy's last name. Oh, he would have loved you so much, Catriona. Don't worry...I'll tell you much more about him once you're old enough to understand why he had to leave that night.”   
She planted a small and soft kiss on Catriona's little forehead. 

Esme then returned and so did the doctor. Esme smiled at her again and Enora allowed her to hold Catriona. Esme took her very carefully, and held her securely. She said,  
“Oh. She is just so precious, girlie! You did a great job, hon. Did you name her yet?”  
“I know...she is a little miracle. Thank you, Esme. Yes, I named her. I decided to name her Catriona. She has her father's last name though.” responded Enora smiling. She avoided telling her the last name because Delvin was well known from what he told her in the letter he left her that night. And not in a positive way.  
“That is a beautiful name, Nora.” she said, smiling. She called her Nora, as a nickname and since they were such close friends and have been since they were at most 5 years of age.

They continued to speak for awhile, and she was finally fully healed to the point of her being able to return home. Esme stayed with her every now and then and helped her raise Catriona.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be skipping ahead 10 years, to when Catriona turns 10 years old, when she discovers she has a special “gift” of thievery. I just don't want to bore you with all these extra chapters that would be involved if I went year by year of Catriona aging. Thank you for reading and enjoy my story! :)


	4. Catriona's "Gift"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10 Years Later...

Over the years Esme helped raise Catriona and actually lived with Enora now. Enora's shop was still not getting a lot of business and she was still struggling to keep food on the table. Esme had started her own small little market stall to help bring in more septims for them all. Catriona saw her mother and Esme struggling to live and make money, so she brought it onto herself to start...”borrowing” from rival shops and market stalls. Her mother knew nothing of this and neither did Esme. Enora has told her the same story she told everyone else about her father being an Imperial Legionnaire fighting to keep them all safe from the Stormcloak Rebellion. She hated lying about Delvin to their own flesh and blood, but she didn't think the time was right to tell her the truth just yet. Delvin also still knew nothing about his daughter, since Enora didn't want to make him worry and feel horrible. 

Enora was at the shop again and Esme at her stall, Catriona alternated between their businesses, she was at her mother's shop right now. She saw there were hardly anyone coming in to browse and maybe even buy, so she spoke saying, also having a proper sounding British accent like her mother,  
“Mum. Can I go play outside?”  
“Of course, little fairy. Just make sure you are back by sundown.” Enora spoke, smiling at her.  
“I will be, mum.” responded Catriona.  
She walked out of the shop and looked around really quick to make sure no guards or citizens saw her, once the coast was clear, she pulled out her lockpick she had found out of the knapsack she carried everywhere and headed over to a rival shop that was one of her frequent stops. She opened the door quietly, and shut it just as quietly as she opened it. The owner of the shop was a Breton man named Barnlius. He usually never suspected her for any attempt at thievery and actually knew her mother personally, he also knew Esme. He hasn't noticed her presence just yet and she crouched down and hid behind various pillars and benches. She peeked around the pillar she was hiding behind and noticed he wasn't even behind the counter. She smiled deviously and hurried over behind the counter and saw a few smaller coin purses on the shelves that were behind there and put them in her knapsack. She also headed over to his strongbox to see if any goodies were in there. She unlocked the strongbox with ease and saw there was a very swollen coin purse in it and another medium sized one. She took both and put them into her knapsack. As soon as the septims were stolen she saw there was 6 different gemstones. An amethyst, a diamond, a sapphire, an emerald, a flawless amethyst, a flawless sapphire, and a flawless emerald. She gasped quietly and took all of those gemstones, putting them into her knapsack. She looked around for more valuable things to steal, but there were none, so she quickly exited the store before Barnlius saw her in there with a partially full knapsack full of his septims and gemstones. 

She was now outside again and she headed over to the market circle to sell the gemstones she “found” to another market stall owner. She saw Esme, smiled and waved to her. Esme smiled and waved back. She went to a stall owned by a a young, friendly Breton woman named Arabella. She smiled down at Catriona and Catriona smiled back saying,  
“Hello...I would like to sell some gemstones I've found over the years since I turned 5. Would you like to buy them?”  
“Oh, gemstones, huh? Sure, let's see what you have, sweetie.” Arabella responded, smiling.   
“Here's what I've collected.” stated Catriona, laying the 6 gemstones on the wooden surface of the stall.   
Arabella's eyes widened slightly and gasped at the site of them. They were very valuable gemstones and she had more than enough to buy them all from her. Arabella said, clearing her throat,  
“You have quite the collection here, dear. Are you sure you wish to part from them?”   
“Yes. My mother and Esme need money and I want to help them make some.” stated Catriona.  
“Oh, how sweet of you. Of course I will buy them from you. I'll take all 6.” responded Arabella.  
“Thank you kindly, ma'am.” said Catriona, smiling widely.  
She traded all 6 of them and she was handed a very large coin purse. It held at most a little over 1,000 septims. She ran right to her mother's shop after that. She opened the door very happily and said,  
“Mum! I got us some more money.”   
“What? How?” responded Enora, sounding surprised.  
“I sold some of my collection to Arabella in the market circle. And I sold some other things I had found to get more septims.” she stated, putting the multiple coin purses on the counter in front of her mother.

Enora was speechless. Her eyes were running over the many coin purses in front of her eyes given to her by her 10 year old daughter. She was also suspicious of how she had gotten this much money for selling her supposed “collections” she told her mother about. She figured her collections would never get her this much money. She just smiled and said, happy,  
“Great work, little fairy! I'm so proud of you, Catie.”   
“Thank you, mum. I'll be sure to keep it up.” Catriona said, smiling.  
As Catriona walked away and sat down at the bench nearby the door, Enora couldn't help but watch her as she sat there. She was very suspicious of how she acquired all this money. She was going to find out sooner or later.

When the time came to close up the shop and for Esme to return home. Enora couldn't help but feel the need to watch Catriona's every move. They left the shop and returned home to their house. It was a decent sized home, not too big and not too small. They all had their own rooms, and a pretty big kitchen area. Esme usually cooked for them, and Enora sometimes cooked too. Catriona claimed she was tired after eating and went upstairs to her room. Enora had a feeling she wasn't going to stay in her room, because she was now starting to put two and two together, she suspected Catriona was thieving from other shop owners and other stall owners. But it was only a suspicion. Enora than ate some beef stew that Esme had made, and went up to Catriona's room. The door was open and she peeked inside to see if she was still inside her room. She was in there and fast asleep. Enora then closed the door. She let out a sigh of relief, but still didn't want to keep her eyes off of her for too long. 

After a couple of hours of sleep, Catriona woke up and guessed it was about 12:00 at night. She got out of bed and yawned. She usually snuck out around this time, to go to the market stalls and steal from their strongboxes underneath their stands, which sat behind wooden, sliding doors. She always waited a few days after thieving from them to wait for them to be refilled with other valuables and septims earned from selling their wares. Little did Catriona know, her mother was not asleep this time. Her mother waited inside her room until she heard Catriona's door creak open, and heard her walk across the wooden floors slowly. She stood up off her bed and quietly made her way over to her door and opened it up, peeking out to see if she saw Catriona awake and walking around. She did, but she wasn't sneaking a sweet roll for a midnight snack as Enora thought she would be doing, she was sneaking out of the house. Catriona exited and Enora followed suit. She waited until she figured she wouldn't see her following behind and left the house. She saw her sneaking past guards and hiding behind everything she could, headed towards the market circle. She made sure she shadowed what her daughter was doing just so she wasn't seen by the guards. Once Catriona had gotten to the circle, she headed straight over to a stall next to Esme's and her mother watched with disbelief as her suspicions came true: Catriona was stealing from the strongbox under the stand.

She watched as she stole from every strongbox, leaving Esme's untouched of course. She started to again put two and two together and knew how she had gained these “skills”: She was born with them. Her father was a master thief. He was good at thievery, and she guessed he somehow passed them onto her when she was conceived. Enora headed back home before Catriona saw her and waited for her to return. She must confront her about this, but she will not shout at her. She waited in the kitchen and watched the door as it slowly opened and she saw Catriona step inside still being quiet as possible. Enora decided to make her presence to her known,  
“Catie?”  
Catriona jumped and said, stuttering,  
“U-um...h-hey, mum...”  
“Catie...I know what you did. And have been doing to gain all this extra money for us to use.” she said, interrupting her.  
“Wh-What do you mean?” asked Catriona, trying to hide the fact that she was stealing and her mother knew about it.  
“Don't try to cover it up, little fairy...I know that you're stealing. And must have been for a long time now.” responded Enora, still staying calm and not raising her voice.  
“O-Oh...h-how did you find out?” said Catriona, with her head down looking at the ground.  
“I followed you tonight. I saw you sneak out of your room and I saw you steal from all the strongboxes in the market area. My suspicions were raised when you brought me all those coin purses full of septims earlier.” explained Enora.  
Catriona's gaze never left the floor and was standing there with her hands behind her back and her again swollen knapsack still wrapped around her shoulder and hanging loosely at her side.

Enora just sighed and walked over to her daughter and knelt down to her level. She then spoke saying, in a soothing voice,  
“Sweetie...look at me.”  
Catriona raised her gaze up to look her mother in her eyes. Enora continued,  
“You're not in trouble, Catie. I'll let you continue this if you want to...but please do not, for the love of the gods, get caught...”   
“Wh-What? You...aren't mad at me, mum?” responded Catriona, looking a little more relieved and surprised her mom wasn't angry at her.  
“No...I could never be angry at you, little fairy. I know how you acquired this...skill...of yours. But that's a story for another day. Come on...let's get to sleep. It's late.” stated Enora, smiling.  
Catriona smiled back and nodded. Catriona put her items from tonight into the family's safe with the rest of the stolen loot she had gotten over the years. Then they both went to bed.

Catriona continued to “acquire” gemstones and septims over the years. Also never getting caught in the act. Her mother couldn't be more proud of her daughter, she also started to feel guilty about not telling Delvin about her. But, all will become clear to Catriona when she turns 16.


	5. Finding Out About Delvin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6 Years Later...

Catriona was now 16 years of age, and was still a very successful thief. She helped her mother gain enough money for them to be able to live and provide for one another. Esme moved out, because she met a man and got engaged about a year ago. She still visited often though. Enora felt that the time was right to tell Catie about her father and what he did for a living, and where he was currently, and where he has been for 16 years. She just didn't know how she would react, since they've been fending for themselves for so long and that she's had no father or father figure in her life because he left that night. Catriona was out browsing for items to get for their dinner, she wasn't stealing as much anymore but she only did when they became desperate for more septims.

She figured when she returned back from the market was when she would tell her about Delvin. The shop was closed now and she wasn't running it until tomorrow morning. She was nervous about telling her about her father. She paced her bedroom floor, then she heard the door open and Catriona's voice saying,  
“Mum! I'm back!”  
She took a deep breath and exited the room. She greeted her saying,  
“Hello, Cat. What did you buy?”  
“I bought some carrots, potatoes, and a few things of venison. I wanted to try and make a venison dish I heard about from Arabella. I still can't believe she speaks to me after I sold her those stolen gemstones 6 years ago...maybe she just never figured it out.” explained Catriona, laughing slightly at the end of her sentence.  
Enora didn't speak just smiled and Catriona became suspicious and said,  
“Mum...what's wrong? You seem...quiet. What's on your mind?”  
“Oh...I just wanted to speak to you about something...I just don't know how to tell you about it.”  
This got Catriona's full attention and she responded saying,  
“You know you can tell me anything.”  
“I know...it's just...a very touchy subject. I don't know how you'll react.” said Enora.  
“Mum...” stated Catriona, crossing her arms and raising her brows.  
“What?” said Enora, still trying to stall a little more.  
“Tell me what's on your mind...” said Catriona.  
“Oh alright...I'll tell you. Sit down.” said Enora, sounding defeated.

They both sat down and Catriona was still giving her mom her full attention. Enora sighed, and put her hands on her lap saying,  
“Catie...I wanted to tell you the truth about your father. The one you deserved to know a long time ago.”  
“The...truth? But...you told me he was serving in the Imperial Legion. You told everyone that story...that's not the truth?” responded Catriona, brows furrowed in confusion.   
“No...it isn't it never was. The truth is...your father...his name is Delvin Mallory. He's a master thief...” she continued but Catriona intervened saying,  
“What?”  
“Yes...he's a thief. We...had a one night stand 16 years ago. He's a charming, handsome man. But, he left that night...and--” Enora continued but was interrupted by Catriona again saying, sounding angry,  
“What?! He just...up and left you that night?! Even though you were going to have me?”  
“Catriona! Let me finish!” Enora exclaimed, making her shut up real quick. Enora continued saying,  
“Yes he left. But for good reason. He didn't want to risk my safety in his line of work. He most likely had a large bounty on his head and possibly an arrest warrant too. He didn't want to be the one to cause me harm if he was ever seized by the guards. He does love me, Cat...I love him too. And...he never knew he got me pregnant that night...I never told him about you, and I know I should have...I just didn't want to make him feel horrible about leaving me with a baby on the way.”   
“He...doesn't know I was born?” asked Catriona, sounding a little upset.  
“No...I know he deserves to know and I know I robbed you of having a father in your life...if your angry with me I'll understand...” responded Enora, with her head down, tears forming in her eyes.  
“Mum...I could never be mad at you. You didn't get mad at me when you found out I was stealing from other when I was 10, so I shouldn't get angry with you about this. But...do you know where father is now?” explained Catriona, smiling at the beginning and then being a little more serious at the end.  
“R-Really? You forgive me for not telling you? Oh...you don't know how relieved I am to hear that from you, Catie. I do know where Delvin is though. Here...he left me this letter from the night he left.” Enora said, smiling widely, and then pulled out an old, yellowed piece of paper out of her pocket.  
“A...letter? You...kept this all these years? Wow...you really do love dad, huh?” said Catriona, smiling softly.  
“Yes...I really do love him. Why do you think I've never dated or married anyone? I also have some more letters he's sent me over the years if you want to read those too.” Enora said.  
“Really?! I would love to read those!” Catriona said, happily.

She unfolded the first letter her mom handed over and read it. After she finished the letter she was smiling, and looked up at her mom saying,  
“He really does love you. And he went to Skyrim? To Riften?”  
“Yes...he moved very far from here. But...he did it to keep me safe. And if I did tell him about you he would have done it for your safety too.” stated Enora.  
“Well...we should go there. Find dad. So I can finally meet him.” said Catriona, suddenly.  
“What?” asked Enora, sounding surprised.  
“We should travel there. To Skyrim. Come on, I know you probably want to see how he's doing after all this time being apart. I know I definitely want to see him. He gave me all these amazing skills, by birth. Please, mum...please?” said Catriona, basically begging her.  
After awhile Enora sighed, and put her hands up in defeat saying, while smiling,  
“Alright...we'll go to Skyrim then.”  
“What?! Really?! Are you serious?! Yes! Okay, um...I'll go start packing then. You should too, mum.” exclaimed Catriona, happily and smiling widely.  
Enora just chuckled at how happy her daughter was and she headed to her room to start packing. They both packed their bags, but Catriona packed hers quicker. They packed all the food that was preservable, and wouldn't go bad any time soon. They didn't pack much else since they really didn't have their own carriage to use, and had to hire one. 

Catriona was the most eager to leave because she wanted to meet her father, and Enora kept up with her eagerness wanting to see her lover again. They got a carriage hired and were on their way to Skyrim. It was going to take weeks to get there, but they would pull through and hopefully be able to sleep on a moving carriage, preparing for a rough road ahead of them. But, once they arrive there...things may only get better or maybe even worse.


	6. Welcome To Riften

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona and Enora Arrive To Their Destination...after weeks of being on the road

Enora and Catriona just arrived in Skyrim. Catriona rehired the same carriage driver so they could keep going until they arrived to Riften. The carriage driver gladly accepted the extra septims, and took them straight to Riften. Once they got to the city, it looked so dark and run-down and rather dangerous looking. Catriona and Enora exchanged glances and just shrugged. 

They approached the gate and one of the guards standing near the gate stopped them and said, in a rather shady Nordic accent,   
“Hold there...before I let you into Riften...you need to pay the visitor's tax...”  
“Save it there, friend...I know your game...I know it all too well. This is a shakedown. Now...let us through, please...” Catriona said, smirking smugly but also bats her eyes at him, using her natural charm.  
“Alright, alright...you caught me...I'll let you into the city, let me unlock the gate...only because you'll fit in just fine here.” said the guard, not being able to tell if he was smiling or not because of the helmet covering his whole face.  
He walked over to the gate and unlocked it. He said,  
“Gate's unlocked. You can head inside when you're ready.”  
Enora gave an impressed look to her daughter and Catriona just shrugged still smirking proudly. They entered the gate and took in the sights of the city...which were definitely not pleasant sites. The city looked so old, beat up, run down, and dark.

Catriona seemed to like it and Enora was still indecisive about the city itself. As they were standing there on the main walkway of the city, they heard two people speaking to one another near a building closest to them. It was a Nord woman clad in Banded Iron Armor, iron gauntlets, and iron boots. She also had an Iron Battleaxe, sheathed on her back. A young man sitting on a wooden crate in front of her said,  
“Be careful, Mjoll...the Thieves Guild has Maven Black-Briar at her back...one snap of her fingers, and you could spend the rest of your life in prison...or worse...”  
“They represent the reason I'm here...I can't just ignore them, Aerin.” responded Mjoll, in a very prominent Nordic accent, that was rather annoying to listen to.  
“I know...I just...don't want you to leave. You're the best thing that's happened to this city in a long time.” spoke Aerin, sounding sad.  
They both just walked toward the center of the city after their small conversation ended. Catriona whispered loudly, to Enora, sounding happy,  
“Mum! Did you hear that? The Thieves Guild! Father has to be there!”  
“That would be the only place I could think of him going to, Catie...he is a master thief. And from what we just learned that Mjoll woman is aiming to take them down...to run them out of this city. We can't let that happen. We must find, Delvin. And quick.” stated Enora, sounding determined now.  
Catriona nodded once in agreement. They then headed to the center of the city to hopefully find out more information on where the Thieves Guild was located by some of the market stall owners or citizens. 

Catriona and her mother split up, agreeing to meet at the side of the Inn labeled “The Bee and Barb” once they found out all they could. Catriona walked past a dark elf woman selling meats, fruits and vegetables from what it looked like, there was a beggar man sitting on a wooden crate with a bucket at his feet with 3 septims inside. Catriona gave him a small, sympathetic smile and put 50 septims in the bucket. He smiled at her and had a look of appreciation in his eyes, and on his face. He said,  
“Oh thank you...Divines bless your kind heart.”   
She nodded once giving him one last smile and headed back to the market circle which didn't last long because she was then approached by a red-haired Nord man, in a fancy looking blue outfit, that really hugged him in all the right places and he said in a Scottish accent, smirking,  
“Never done an honest day's work in your life for all that coin you're carryin', eh lass?”  
Catriona flinched at his sudden approach and words, but relaxed once she saw how attractive he was and smiled at him saying,  
“I'm sorry?”  
“I'm sayin' you've got the coin...but you didn't earn a septim of it honestly...I can tell.” he responded, still smirking at her.  
“And may I ask...how you would know this of me?” she said, sounding flirtatious as she spoke, and starting to realize who he worked for.  
“Well...I just notice certain things about people, lass. Wealth is my business, you know?” he said, starting to notice she began to know who he really was and what he was.  
“Uh-huh...I can see this. Well...I have a question to ask of you, good sir.” she responded, still sounding like she was flirting.  
“Ask away, lass...” he stated, smirking.  
“Would you happen to be a part of the Thieves Guild by chance?” she asked quietly, smirking now.  
“Damn...looks like I've been had. Aye, that I am. You seem like you want to join us...is that what's going on here?” he responded, still smiling at her.

Her face brightened up a little and she smiled a little wider and said, not too loudly,  
“Yes! That would be great! Do I have to do anything to get initiated?”  
“Aye, you do lass. I have an errand to perform...but I need an extra pair of hands...extra hands are very well paid in my line of work.” he responded, quietly to not draw attention to them.  
“This is really happening?? Wow! Okay, okay what do I have to do?” she asked, rather excited now.  
“Simple. I'm going to cause a distraction...and you're gonna steal Madesi's silver ring from the strongbox, under his stand over there. Then, once you have it...I want you to place it in Brand-Shei's pocket without him noticing.” he explained, strictly business sense now.  
“Sounds super easy. I won't even ask questions of why the ring needs to be planted on Brand-Shei...alright...let's do this.” she said, very eager to get the job done.  
“Enthusiasm always makes the potential recruit more interesting...okay, lass. I'll start the distraction. Wait till I get everyone's attention and then show me what you're made of.” he said, smirking at her again.

She nodded vigorously and he nodded once with a smirk still on his face. He then started the distraction, getting everyone's attention rather quickly. He was selling some phony potion, that was probably not even what he said it was. Most likely just watered down herbs and ingredients that didn't do what he said it did. She saw everyone was away from their market stands, and she went over to where Madesi was standing and crouched down, sliding open the door revealing a strongbox and a satchel full of things also. She unlocked the strongbox without a problem and took everything out of it, unnoticed, and he had 5,000 septims in the strongbox along with other valuables. She kept the ring on her finger, and took everything out of the satchel as well. She then snuck over to where Brand-Shei was sitting with his back turned to his stand and was sitting on a wooden crate. She carefully, and slowly put the ring in his pocket, she then looked over to Brynjolf and gave him a thumbs up. He ended his distraction with, fake happiness, and a goofy fake smile, saying,  
“Well...looks like I'm done here. Don't forget to get yourself a bottle of my Falmer Blood Elixir! Only 20 septims each!”

Everyone all walked away mumbling angrily to themselves saying what a waste of time his announcement was. She walked back over to him with a smug smile on her face, and he smiled back at her saying,  
“Looks like I'm a good judge of character...I definitely chose the right person for the job. That was phenomenally done...great work. Here. Take this as a reward. It's a good thing you didn't get pinched...especially with how things have been going around here.”  
He handed her 200 septims, and she gladly took it putting the septims into her already swollen coin purse. She then looked back at him saying,  
“What's been going on, here?”   
“Bah...the Thieves Guild's been having a run of bad luck...but I guess that's just how it goes. Anyways, you did the job and you did it very well...but there's plenty more where this came from...if you think you can handle it.” he said, smirking once again. He knew she could handle it...he was just teasing and flirting with her a little bit.

She sighed and rolled her eyes saying, smiling,  
“Of course I can handle it...”   
“Alright then...the Guild's location lies beneath the streets of Riften in the Ratway...a tavern called the Ragged Flagon. Meet me there in one piece, and we'll see if you really got what it takes.” he said, still teasing and smirking at her.   
He gave her a once over before walking away towards the Inn. Whelp...Catriona had a crush already, she knew because as he walked away she found herself checking him out saying,  
“Not bad...not bad at all, Mr. Thief.”  
She remembered her mother, and went over to the side of the Inn just like they agreed to do. She saw her waiting for her there and went over to her with the widest smile on her face. Her mother saw her and said,  
“Well...you seem very happy. What did you find out?”  
“Mum...I made it into the Thieves Guild...and I know where to go to find it. I met a member who was selling phony, miracle potions to people. Scamming people out of their septims. He was very...nice. He told me to meet him in a tavern called the Ragged Flagon beneath the streets of Riften...we need to get there in one piece. Just follow my lead, okay mum? I'm good at this sneaking stuff. Just stay in my shadow and sneak with me. Let's go before it gets to be too dark.” explained Catriona.  
“Yes, of course, dear! Let us go now.” Enora exclaimed, happily.  
She smiled at her mom and gave her a nod. They then headed to the entrance of the Ratway which was on the lower walkway of the city. It was a cell door, with an old, wooden door behind it.

Catriona led her mother through the whole Ratway, avoiding conflict with any potential dangers down here. She threw rocks in the opposite direction they were headed to distract the vagrants, and lowlifes living down there. They finally arrived at another door, and opened it to reveal a large room, with a smaller pool in the middle of the room with light flooding in from above into the water below it. There was a sign, that read “The Ragged Flagon” and they both became happy when the sign showed them where they were now. They heard a conversation going on not too far from where they were. They walked over to the bar area. Catriona saw the thief she spoke to earlier being talked to by a bartender and a burly looking blonde Nord man. The bartender said,  
“Give it up, Brynjolf! Those days are over...”  
“I'm telling you...this one is...different.” stated Brynjolf, the one she spoke to earlier.  
“We've all heard that one before, Bryn...quit kidding yourself...” said the burly blonde Nord man.  
Catriona then cleared her throat and made Brynjolf turn around and he smirked seeing it was her. He looked at the two arguing with him with smugness on his face and then approached her and Enora saying,  
“Good to see you made it in one piece, lass. And who is this you have with you?”   
“So, your name is Brynjolf? Good name...suits you. And this is my mother, Enora Leroux. She is here with me for...personal reasons. She can explain it to you, of why she is here.” explained Catriona, still flirting with him slightly, but becoming serious towards the end of her sentence.  
“Oh, meeting the mother already? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Leroux. Your name...sounds very familiar by the way.” said Brynjolf, trying to remember how her name sounded so familiar.   
“It's nice to meet you too, sir. My name may sound familiar because...I know someone that you work with. Would you happen to know where Delvin Mallory is down here by chance?” answered Enora, sounding hopeful that he knew where he was at now.  
“By the eight...it's you? THAT Enora, that Delvin has been sending letters to and is very smitten with? It's good to finally meet you. What is your name, by the way?” he said, smiling widely, his last question directed to Catriona.

Catriona smiled and said,  
“My name is Catriona Mallory...I'm Delvin's daughter.”  
Brynjolf's mouth dropped and had a look of shock on his face. He couldn't speak at all. Neither could anyone else in the room that heard the whole conversation that went on. After awhile Brynjolf cleared his throat and said,  
“U-Um...well, this is a surprise to us all. We didn't know you and Delvin had a daughter. He didn't mention it to us at all. I'll get him for you...wait here.”   
Catriona and Enora smiled, giving him a nod as he disappeared into a room behind the Ragged Flagon, to the left. It was about 10 minutes after that he came back with Delvin following close behind him, looking confused as to why he retrieved him. Delvin about froze in place as he laid eyes on Enora. It has been 16 years since he saw her last and she looked not even a day over 30. She was only 34 years of age now, but she looked the same to him. He smiled, widely and happily said,  
“Enora...? Is that you, love?”  
Enora couldn't help but run over to him and throw her arms around his neck and he gladly hugged her back. He was now 40 years of age, but he looked no different to her either. He was bald now, but not much else was different with him. She kissed Delvin with tears in her eyes and pulled away saying,  
“Oh, I've missed you, Delvin. I have someone for you to meet...I should have told you about her a long time ago...but I didn't want to make you feel guilty about leaving that night...come with me I'll introduce her to you.”  
She held his hand and led him over to where Catriona was standing trying to hold back tears for meeting her father finally for the first time. Delvin looked confused at first, and once he saw Catriona when he got closer to her, his eyes widened. She looked just like Enora, but she had his eye color, and Catriona spoke to him, voice breaking,  
“Hello...I'm so glad to finally meet you...my name is Catriona...I'm your daughter.”  
“Wait...my...daughter? Enora...I got you pregnant that night?” he responded, sounding like he was already feeling guilty for leaving.  
“Yes...she's our daughter. I should have told you about her in my letters...but I didn't want to make you feel like a jerk moving here. I'm so sorry, Delvin...I should have told you about her.” Enora explained, to him, tears streaming down her face because of how bad she felt.

Delvin wasn't angry or upset that she never told her about Catriona, he just kissed Enora on the forehead and smiled at her, he just turned to Catriona and just brought his arms up, signaling her to hug him and she happily accepted the hug. She basically threw herself at him, putting her arms around his waist. It made him stumble back slightly and he just chuckled, wrapping his arms around her too. He was actually tearing up while holding his daughter for the first time, regretting that he wasn't there to see her grow up or become the beautiful young woman she was now. He couldn't be more proud of how well Enora raised her. He said, pulling away to look at his daughter more closely, and put his hands on her face while smiling at her,  
“You're so beautiful, sweetheart. Just like your mother, and you got my eyes and some facial features of mine too.”   
Catriona smiled with tears in her eyes, Enora was also crying happy tears as she watched the two of them finally meeting one another.  
“Well...I can say that I am the luckiest man alive right now. I have a beautiful girlfriend and we have a gorgeous daughter. But...why are you two here in the Flagon?” he said, looking back and forth between them now.  
“Well...I got recruited by Brynjolf over there. I have your thieving skills, father. I was actually stealing from other shops and market stalls around us to help provide for her and Auntie Esme. I am really good at stealing and turning things around for profit to unaware people. So...I passed Brynjolf's little test with flying colors. And now...I'm here to meet you and to see what else Brynjolf has to offer me to prove my worth further.” explained Catriona, smiling proudly.  
“That a girl! Taking after your ole, father. Couldn't be more proud either.” he said, smiling at her like a proud father should smile at their child.

Brynjolf then walked over smiling at them all and said,  
“Hey, um, I hate to interrupt this family reunion. But I just wanted to say to Catriona, that she has nothing more to prove to me. She's a Mallory, she's already made for this line of work. But, she does need to meet Mercer.”   
“That's what I like to hear! Meetin' the Guildmaster, eh? Well...good luck, little dove. Be mindful of him though...he may be a Breton, but he ain't very friendly.” explained Delvin, to Catriona, planting a small kiss on her forehead.  
He gave her one last smile and let her walk over to Brynjolf, so she could go meet the Guildmaster...the most unpleasant man in existence: Mercer Frey. She stood in front of Brynjolf with a slight look of nervousness on her face, but she glanced back at her mom and dad, and saw he had an arm around her waist, and she had an arm around his waist too and they were both smiling at her, and each other. She smiled at how much they still loved one another and then she turned to face Brynjolf again and said,  
“Well...I'm ready to meet the Guildmaster.”  
“Okay, lass. Follow me.” stated Brynjolf, seeming more hesitant than before to flirt with her now that he knew she was Delvin's daughter.  
She nodded and followed close behind him. He led her over to a wardrobe, and pressed a hidden button behind a fake stone on the wall. The wardrobe than opened and the back part also did. He continued on and led her down a small hallway, that had another room that looked like a bedroom next to it. They came to another wooden door that he opened up and held open for her. She followed in and he closed the door behind them. There was a man standing in the center of the Cistern. It had to be Mercer.

Her nervousness still remained, but she tried hard not to show it just to make herself seem at ease and not a nervous wreck in front of the Guildmaster. Even though her father told her that he wasn't exactly a friendly man. Once they finally reached the center of the room, Brynjolf stood a few feet away from Mercer and said, sounding professional now,  
“Mercer...this is the one I was telling you about. Our new recruit.”  
“This better not be another waste of the Guild's resources, Brynjolf...” spoke Mercer, with an emotionless and nasally sounding voice.  
He turned to look at Catriona, actually giving her a once over, like Brynjolf did earlier. It made her shift her weight from one foot to the other, and avoid taking her eyes away from him just to see if she could hide that she was nervous and slightly uncomfortable with the look of lust he had in his eyes. He didn't change his expression at all and continued saying,  
“Before we begin I wanna make one thing perfectly clear...you play by the rules, you walk away rich...you break the rules and you lose your share...no debates, no discussions...you do what we say when we say...do I make myself, CLEAR?”   
“O-Of course. I understand.” she stated, simply.  
He seemed like he was caught off guard by her very pretty sounding voice, but shook it off and cleared his throat saying,  
“Good. Then I think it's time we put your...expertise to the test.”   
“Wait a moment...you're not talking about Goldenglow are you?” asked Brynjolf, sounding shocked.  
“You claim this recruit possesses the aptitude for our line of work...if so, let her prove it.” he said to Brynjolf, sounding impatient. He continued speaking, turning to Catriona,  
“Goldenglow Estate is critically important to one of our largest clients. However, the owner has suddenly decided to take matters into his own hands and shut us out...he needs to be taught a lesson. Brynjolf will provide you with the details...”   
“Mercer, aren't you forgetting something?” asked Brynjolf, still sounding serious.  
“Hmm? Oh yes...since Brynjolf assures me you'll be nothing but a benefit to us, then you're in...welcome to the Thieves Guild...” responded Mercer, seeming like he was distracted by looking at her lustfully again, but also still sounding unhappy and monotone. He walked back to the stand behind the desk in front of a two empty bookshelves and a blank bust statue.  
“Well...welcome to the family, Catriona. I'm expecting you to make us a lot of coin. And I know you won't disappoint, either.” said Brynjolf, smirking at her again.  
Catriona seemed like she was distracted, because she couldn't help but keep looking at Mercer because he was still staring and uncomfortably smirking at her as he stood there with his hands on the desk. Brynjolf had to wave a hand in front of her face to get her attention and she snapped out of it and looked at Brynjolf now. He said, concerned,  
“Are you alright there, lass?”  
“Hmm? Oh! Yes, I'm quite alright, Brynjolf. And also, you don't have to call me Catriona. Call me Cat or Catie. I won't mind. Especially, if you call me one of those.” she said, sounding like she was being flirty with him again.  
“Haha...alright, Cat it is then.” he said, not sounding flirty. More or less like a good friend. She noticed this, but just decided to not think too much about it. He explained the Goldenglow job to her and she felt like it was going to be a piece of cake. She was told to get her armor from Tonilia and she did just that. She put her new armor on and headed over to the Estate right away. She would definitely not disappoint the Guild or her parents.


	7. Goldenglow Estate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona does her first real mission for the Guild...

Catriona headed towards where Brynjolf told her it was located at. She had to take a swim in the lake near Riften, but she didn't mind. A little water would never hurt anyone. She made it over to the island the Estate was on, and she was aware that there were mercenaries on guard, Brynjolf warned her about them and how “they don't take prisoners” as in they would kill her and not ask any questions about it if she was caught. She had her hood up and started to shake off her armor since it was soaked now. But it clung uncomfortably to her body now. She groaned to herself as she tried to get as much water off of her armor as she could manage. She climbed up the rocks that were exposed on the side of the island, and saw there was a back door. She thanked the divines and snuck over to it, as quietly as possible. She pulled out her lucky lockpick she's had since she was 10 and started to attempt to pick the lock. She did it carefully and slowly. She didn't want to break the pick. 

She got it open after about 20 minutes, and sighed in relief. She had her glass daggers sheathed just in case she did have to kill the mercenaries in the estate. She was hoping the wooden floor boards would not be creaky and loud. Catriona was not sneaking around, but was basically tip toeing her whole way through the house. She went down a hall and it had a closet, but she heard voices in the next room, all were Nord men, their voices deep. She put her back against the wall and listened to them, hoping they would leave into another room that she didn't have to go in or come her way. One said,  
“Man...this Aringoth guy is pretty damn paranoid to have hired more of us. He must be in loads of trouble...or is going to be.”  
“Yeah well...he's paying us well...I won't think about why he needed us. The septims keep coming and I'm loving it. Might as well keep it at that.” said another one.  
She didn't hear them move or leave, so she just sighed quietly and remembered she had put some invisibility potions in some of her pouches on her armor, and she took one, and snuck past them. There were three of them, and she made it out of the line of danger. She saw a small set of stairs leading up to a door, but she wasn't here to explore, she needed to get her job done.

She saw another door and it looked like a cell door. She picked the lock which was a rather easy one, and went down the stairs. There was another door, and she went through it. She saw two other mercenaries sitting near a chest, talking amongst themselves not even paying attention to their surroundings. She made it past them with ease as well, and she went down a hall and then down another one, there was oil all over the floor she groaned quietly, hoping she wouldn't ruin her armor going through it. There was another mercenary sitting on a wooden chair in front of another set of stairs. She whispered, to herself,  
“Oh, shit...how will I get past him?”  
She looked around and couldn't find anything to throw. She saw no other choice but to kill him. She pulled out one of her daggers and snuck up behind him and grabbed him by the ankle pulling him to the ground. He cried out rather loudly in shock and fear. She then put him on his back, and was straddling his chest, and held the dagger to his throat making him wide eyed. She said, emphasizing her words,  
“Don't.You.Dare.Say.One.More.Word...”  
“W-Who are you?” he asked, afraid.  
“That's none of your damn concern, my good sir...all you need to know, is I won't kill you if you allow me to steal all I need from that safe down there. And don't speak ONE word of this encounter with me to any of your friends up there, or over in the next room especially not Aringoth two floors above us...” she explained, serious.  
“I can't just let you take everything, thief...I was hired to guard that safe...and I don't intend on letting it be robbed so easily under my guard.” he said, not that afraid anymore, just more serious.  
“I gave you a choice...you missed it. I'm killing your sorry arse then...” she said, serious still.  
“Do it then...I dare you, bitch...” he said, challenge in his tone.  
She hesitated because she never killed anyone before. She thought sounding threatening would scare him and agree to letting her take everything in the safe. She didn't know it would be this hard to get him to agree to that. She took too long because then the mercenary switched up their positions, so he was on top with a dagger to her throat now. He smirked smugly and said,  
“I knew you couldn't do it...you're just a mere thief...you don't kill, you steal, lie, and cheat. You don't have the balls to kill anyone...”  
She was frozen and had no idea what she was going to do or what he was going to do to her. Kill her or just toy with her. He was pressing his dagger more into her neck, pricking the flesh making a small stream of blood come out. She winced and whimpered slightly. He started to have dark intentions in his eyes, and I don't mean killing her. His eyes started to cloud over with lust and desire for her. He then forced her hood off so he could see her face and she shook her head slightly because some hair got into her eyes glaring at him intently. She was pissed off, and asked, sarcastically,  
“What? You wanted to see my pretty little face??”  
“I sure did...and boy, am I glad I have...” he said, lustfully.  
“Oh? You're...interested in me, eh?” she asked, fake flirtatiousness in her tone. Her father's personality was starting to show from her now.

The mercenary nodded slowly, and she started to become more loose out from underneath him. Her dagger was still in her hand too. He started to lean down to kiss her and right then she found the perfect opportunity to move her arm and then raised up her dagger quickly, stabbing him right in the side of his throat. He gurgled, choking on his own blood and it came running out of his mouth, she turned away so it wouldn't get into her eyes, mouth or nose. But it did get on the side of her face and partially in her hair. She felt him go limp and pulled her dagger out, then she pushed his body aside with a huff, and stood back up, brushing herself off and wiping what she could of his blood off her face, with disgust. She felt a bit shaken up about killing him. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She wiped the blood on her dagger off on his body and put it back into it's sheathe. She put her hood back up and continued on down the set of stairs, to where the safe was located. She picked the lock of the safe and grabbed everything inside of it. Two swollen coin purses and a piece of parchment folded in half. She also grabbed two more coin purses off the small table near the safe, and unlocked a chest right next to the safe. It also had a few more coin purses in it and she took those too. She sighed in relief and headed back to the Guild to tell Brynjolf of her success. 

She arrived back at the Guild, and went through the secret entrance in the small graveyard behind the Temple of Mara. She pulled the chain to close the entrance back up, so no one saw it especially guards. The grinding noise it made was terrible, and she was shocked no one ever heard it because of how loud it is. She opened up the man hole cover, and climbed down the ladder, shutting the man hole cover again. She walked straight to Brynjolf. He was waiting in the center of the Cistern, and had his arms crossed looking around at the other thieves. He smiled as soon as his eyes set on her. Her hood was down and when he saw the dried up blood on her face and in her hair, he became immediately worried and met her half way. He quickly walked over to her, and said, putting a hand under her chin and turning her face the opposite way so he could see it, his eyes and voice filled with worry and concern for her,  
“What happened, lass?”  
“Um, nothing...it isn't my blood...” she said, trying to resist the urge to blush but failing at it. Her eyes were looking at the ground, and her face was reddened slightly.  
He turned her head to face him again and said,  
“You aren't lying to me are you, Cat?”  
“No...honest to the gods...it's a mercenary I had to kill's blood. We had a little scuffle and I was winning at first, with my dagger to his throat but seeing how I hesitated to kill him...he kind of turned the tables on me...and put a dagger to my neck...now the little bit of blood on my neck is mine...but I'll live.” she said, trying to leave certain details out.  
“I feel like there was more to it then that, lass...did he try to hurt you? Truthfully now...” he said, still concerned. Letting go of her chin now.  
She sighed and said, face less red now that he took his hand away,  
“Alright...I may have left a little bit of details out...but yes, he did try to hurt me. He...tried to kiss me when he was on top of me, but then I stabbed him right in his throat...that's how his blood got on my face and in my hair. That's the honest to gods, truth.”  
He clenched his jaw at the mentioning of the mercenary trying to kiss her and force himself onto her and tried to hide the anger it made him feel...poorly...and said,  
“Good to hear he's dead. And glad to see you're back in one piece, lass. What did you find in his safe?”  
She noticed the way he was when she mentioned the man trying to kiss her against her will and smiled slightly to herself, knowing he cared about her and said,  
“Here. This is what I found in his safe. Seems important.”  
He took the parchment gently from her hands and unfolded it. His eyes widened as he read the letter. He said, to himself,  
“By the Eight...this is outrageous!”  
“What? What does it say?” she asked, curious.  
“Aringoth sold Goldenglow?! What's that idiot thinking?! He has no idea the extent of Maven's fury when she's been cut out of a deal...but I'm certain he'll find out. The only way we could identify our buyer is this...odd little symbol...” he explained, pointing to the strange symbol on the letter. He continued saying,  
“Any idea what that might be, lass?”  
“I don't know what it is at all.” she stated, expressing the same confusion as him.  
“Blast...well, I have to check my sources and speak to Mercer. One of them may know who our buyer is. On the other hand...you're off to speak to Maven Black-Briar. She asked for you by name.” he explained.  
“M-Maven Black-Briar wants to speak...to me? I thought I did the job as you asked...” she said, nervous.  
“Oh...no...it's nothing like that. It's just business.” he stated, reassurance in his tone.  
“Oh...good. I thought I was a dead woman...” she said, letting out a breath she had been holding in.  
“Haha...if it was like that, she wouldn't be asking for you, she'd be calling on the Dark Brotherhood. She's at the Bee and Barb, upstairs. Good luck, lass. I know you'll make us proud.” he said, smiling at her, then walking away to speak with Mercer about the symbol on the letter.

She couldn't help but watch as he walked away, he was just too damn attractive to just not watch walk away.

Before she left to speak to Maven, she went to the Flagon to go and check on her parents. But before she did that, she washed the dried blood off of her face and out of her hair, just so she didn't worry them. It took awhile but she got it all off. As she entered, she saw them sitting over at the table near the pool in the Flagon, and they were speaking to each other, smiling, laughing and their hands were entwined on top of the table their other hands on their laps. She smiled at the site of them both. She walked over to their table and they both saw her approaching them and both smiled widely at her, Delvin being the one to stand up and walk over to her arms outstretched as he walked over to her saying,  
“There's our little girl!”  
She met him halfway and hugged him smiling as she did so. He hugged her back, and she said,  
“Sorry...that job proved to be quite time consuming. I didn't realize how long I was gone until I returned here, and the sun was setting.”  
“Bah...that's quite awright, Catie. The longer the job, the more fun ya have, eh? It always makes this way of life...a bit more exciting in my opinion.” he explained, pulling away and ruffling her hair a little bit.  
She smiled as he did that and her mother was standing next to Delvin now. He wrapped an arm around her mother's shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss on the forehead. Enora smiled at that and Catriona couldn't help but smile either. Her mother extended a hand out and rubbed her on her shoulder while smiling at her and saying,  
“We are so proud of you, Catie. This way of life may not be considered moral or right to anyone in this town above us, but...you're great at it. Keep up your good work, darling.”  
“I will, mum.” responded Catriona, smiling.

With that she hugged both her parents then left to speak with Maven Black-Briar. She hoped this job wouldn't prove to be too difficult...but knowing Maven...it just might be...


	8. Honnigbrew Meadery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona gets her next big job from Maven...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!!! I'm back with this though. I am currently working on this story, and two others and it's proven to be very hard keeping up with all 3 of them. So I apologize for super long waits on this one and my other one posted on here which is "Unexpected Love" and the other one I'm working on called "Dark Past, Brighter Future" which is focused on my wood elf OC named Rowena (she isn't Dragonborn btw) and her story. Anyways, enjoy this VERY LONG chapter. :) :) :)

Catriona was now on her way to meet with Maven at the Bee and the Barb, and wasn't going to lie...she was pretty nervous. She would keep on the unafraid act for as long as she could though. Maven had ties to the Dark Brotherhood too...she didn't want to have a contract put out on her head if she failed this job. She was at the doors of the Inn, and took a deep breath then opened the doors. She entered and was basically not even acknowledged by any one in there. She headed up the stairs slowly, looking rather suspicious since she was wearing her Guild armor, with her hood up. She was upstairs and saw Maven sitting in a wooden chair near a table with a few candles lit, sitting straight up and had her hands folded in her lap looking around the Inn with a look of disgust.

She slowly approached the snobby woman and Maven looked up acknowledging her presence, not a single change in her expression. She looked her up and down with a look of boredom on her face and said, snobby,  
“So...you're the one...hmph...you don't look so impressive...”  
“How about we skip the conversation?” Catriona responded, sounding braver than she actually was feeling right now.  
Maven's brows raised in impression and she said, slight smirk on her face,  
“You're a firebrand aren't you? It's about time Brynjolf sent me someone with business sense...I was beginning to think he was running some sort of beggar's Guild down there...”  
“You've no faith in the Guild?” asked Catriona, not as nervous now.  
“Faith?” chuckled Maven and continued saying,  
“I don't have faith in anyone...all I care about is cause and effect: Did the job get done? And was it done correctly? There's no gray area...”  
“You won't have that problem with me...I assure you.” stated Catriona, bravely.  
“I hope not...this is an important job...you're going to Honnigbrew Meadery.” Maven stated, back to her snobby stature.  
“Where do I begin?” asked Catriona.  
“Go to the Bannered Mare in Whiterun...speak to Mallus Maccius...he'll fill you in on all the details.” responded Maven, sounding unsure of Catriona now.  
“I'll leave right away, madam.” stated Catriona, with a slight bow of her head.  
She headed back down the stairs and got out of the Inn. She took in a deep breath and exhaled really quick, basically releasing all the tension she felt when speaking to her.

She headed to the gate of the city and had a horse waiting for her at the stables, but with Brynjolf near it. She slightly turned her head in confusion, and smiled at the sight of him there. His hood was up, but she saw his auburn hair underneath the black, leather hood which was a dead give away as to who he was. Plus, she saw his slight scruff that she loved so much. She went over to him and asked, happiness in her tone,  
“Brynjolf? What are you doing out here? How did you know I would need a horse?”  
She then narrowed her eyes at him becoming aware of why he knew all this. He was spying on her and she knew it too. She then slowly crossed her arms and he said, chuckling and acting nonchalantly,  
“What's with that look, lass? Have I done something wrong?”  
“You spied on me, didn't you, Bryn?” she asked, eyes still narrowed and arms still crossed.  
“No...why would you think that, Cat?” he said, lying terribly while holding back a smile.  
“Brynjolf...” she stated, looking like a mother scolding her child.  
“Alright, alright...I may have eavesdropped on your conversation with Maven at the Inn...but only because I was worried about what she would send you to do.” explained Brynjolf, worry in his tone.  
“I just have to talk to Maven's assistant Mallus Maccius...he's a spy for Honnigbrew Meadery. I don't know all the details yet. But, I will once I get there. I'd best be on my way.” explained Catriona.  
She walked over to the horse Brynjolf had for her, and he helped her up onto it. She smiled in thanks, and all of a sudden Brynjolf spoke,  
“I'd like to go with you...if you don't mind?”  
This caught her off guard and she said after awhile,  
“Wh-What? You want to go with me? Are...are you sure the Guild will be fine in your absence?”  
“Bah. I go on jobs more than that lot does. I go on more jobs than they do all the time. They'll be fine. Besides...I would like to get to know you more, lass. I haven't really been able to find anything about you out since you've joined us about a week ago.” he said, smiling at her.  
She actually felt pretty happy that he wanted to go on this job with her. She responded,  
“I would love for you to go with me.”  
His face seemed to brighten up more once she said that. He walked over to the stables and looked around, to make sure no one was around to see anything, he then stole a horse, and they hurried out of there before the next patrolling guard would go to his post near the gate. They both rode off towards Whiterun laughing because he had just stolen the horse so quickly. It would take at most 2 or 3 days to get to Whiterun depending on how much they stopped. Good thing she had her knapsack with her. She had packed some food and mead. But didn't know he would want to go with her, so she hoped she had enough for them both.

They spoke back and forth on the way to Whiterun, talking about their lives before the Guild. Catriona actually was more fascinated to hear about how his life was and how he came to join the Guild. She had very little to tell him about her life, since she knew no other life besides the one she had with her mother and Esme back at home. After all that she decided to ask him, what's been on her mind this whole time,  
“Hey, Brynjolf?”  
“Yes, lass?” he responded.  
“What made you decide to go with me today? Or was it just my parents?” she continued.  
“Well, your parents were both concerned about your safety on this mission, since Maven is the one who gave it to you, and both asked me to accompany you just for extra help if needed.” he responded.  
“This mission doesn't seem too dangerous...not as dangerous as the Goldenglow job was at least. But...they're my parents and I am their only child. I see why they're concerned.” she stated.  
“Aye. As am I, Cat. I don't want to see you get hurt because of a job for our Guild and largest client. Which is why I agreed to accompany you today.” he stated, concern in his emerald gaze.  
She smiled to herself knowing that he was also concerned for her safety. They were halfway to Whiterun now, and Catriona had begun to fall asleep while on her horse, and Brynjolf noticed this and said,  
“Maybe we should stop for the night, lass. You seem like you're getting tired. And I'm sure we could both use a good night's rest.” he said, concern and exhaustion filling his tone.  
“Hmm? Oh...right...sorry I was a little out of it. But, I agree...we should stop for the night.” she responded, drowsiness in her tone.  
They found a clearing near the small patch of woods they were by. Both went over to the roadside and dismounted their horses. They both had their own camping equipment packed in their knapsacks brought with them. Catriona never noticed he had his own bag this whole time. She was relieved because she was pretty sure she didn't have enough food or drink for two people. They set up their own individual tent and bed roll, and Brynjolf went to go gather things for a fire for them to keep warm. Skyrim was beautiful...but it's harsh, wintry conditions and temperatures were at times...unbearable. 

She had packed away fur blankets as well, knowing full well her bed roll wouldn't provide enough warmth. She wrapped herself in them and sat in front of the entrance of her tent with her knees hugged close to her chest and her teeth chattering. She was a Breton...they weren't used to these temperatures and didn't have the tolerance for it like all Nords did. Brynjolf had returned about 10 minutes later with arms full of sticks, and had found some rocks to make a base for the fire. He saw her there in a huddled, cold mess and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her. She heard it and said, shivering but smiling at him,  
“W...What...ar...are...you...l-laughing at?”  
“Oh...nothing at all, lass...” he said, holding back more chuckles.  
“Y-You're laughing at me...ar...aren't you?” she asked, smiling still but shivering.  
“Damn...I've been had.” he said, bursting out in laughter now.  
“O-Oh...s...sure...laugh at the little...Breton...g...girl...who isn't used to these...horrendous...t...temperatures...” she said, voice full of sarcasm but she was smiling as she spoke. She knew he was just joking with her.  
He cleared his throat after laughing, all the while still smirking as he started to set up the fire. He looked at her and said,  
“Um...lass? Do you know any magic?”  
“A...little b-bit...w-why?” she said.  
“Well...I can't start a fire...I don't know any spells.” he said, sheepishly.  
She nodded and brought a shaky, cold hand out from under her blanket shield, and snapped her fingers making a flame appear and lit the wood up. It was now brightened where they were and they could see each other clearer. He smiled and said,  
“Thank you, Cat.”  
“Y-You're...w-welcome...” she stated, with a small smile. Her whole body was shaking still. Her body was still trying to warm up.  
He started to feel sorry for her and sighed, walking over to where she sat, and sat down right next to her on the ground. His legs were out and bent in front of him and he put an arm around her and the other rested on his right knee. He pulled her closer and said,  
“I'll help keep you warm, Cat...”  
She blushed because of how close they were now, and how she felt his body heat radiating from him like he himself was the campfire he made for them. He looked forward and stared at the fire, looking deep in thought, she glanced up at him and basically was silently asking him if she could cuddle closer to him. He side glanced at her and saw that she was blushing and her brown eyes were looking up at him like an innocent child asking permission for something. He half-smiled and nodded his head. She smiled and cuddled closer to him. Her shivering ceasing after only a few minutes. She said, amazed,  
“Wow...how the hell can you handle these cold temperatures and still stay this warm?”  
“Well...I am a Nord, lass. We have a natural tolerance for the cold weather.” he stated, smiling.  
“Lucky you...us Bretons aren't used to these weather conditions...plus we're all smaller than you Nords...so I guess you could say we lose body heat faster in temperatures like this...”  
He chuckled and she felt the vibrations of them since his arm was around her shoulders. She smiled, and wanted to cherish this time with him. She knew she probably wouldn't get another chance like this with him...she felt like he only thought of her as a kid or a little sister, so she didn't expect much of a romantic relationship with them in the future. But she didn't know Brynjolf was slowly starting to develop feelings for her as well...he just hid it better than she did. She's only been with the Guild for a week and a half, but...he knew how good of a woman she was, and how good of a thief she was...and she was starting to grow on him...a lot. But...he refrained from showing how he felt about her because of her only being 17, she had just turned 17 a few days ago and him being age 27. Age may not have mattered to any of the male thieves in the Guild, but it mattered to him. He also was refraining because of what her father would think about it all...and he didn't want to make Delvin furious. He's seen how he acts when he gets mad...it isn't pretty. After awhile, he was still awake and still had his arm around her shoulders. He looked down at her again and she was asleep. He smiled softly at her and gently laid her on her bed roll inside her tent, and retrieved the other fur blanket he had seen in her bag, and put it over her. He then went over to his tent and laid down onto his bed roll and got inside of it for warmth, and fell asleep soon after.

Brynjolf was awoken the next morning by Catriona's yelling, sounding frustrated. He looked up at her with one eye open and saw she was trying to cook two salmons she had caught from a nearby stream over the fire and it wasn't working out too well for her. He just grinned and asked, sleepily,  
“Having trouble there, lass?”  
“Oh, shit...sorry...did I wake you?” she said, sheepishly.  
“Yeah you did...but I don't care that you did. It looks like it's about 7 am right now. We better get going here soon.” he said, rubbing his eyes with his arm.  
“I know...I just thought you may be hungry so I caught some salmon...I mean you kept me warm for a long time last night...and I just wanted to thank you in some way...” she said, hiding her face so he didn't see her blush.  
He half-smiled and got out of his tent, sitting down next to the fire, as she cooked the salmon to the best of her abilities. He reached over to his bag and pulled out a bottle of Black-Briar mead. He offered her one and she smiled, taking it from him hesitantly. He smiled as she did so and took out another bottle of the same mead. They both uncorked their bottles and they both took long swigs of it at the same time. Both sighed in relief and Catriona said,  
“Wow, I guess what they say about Black-Briar Mead is true...it tastes better than most mead I've ever tried. It's sweet tasting.”  
“Aye. It's my favorite mead. I didn't know if you drank at all, which is why I offered it to you rather hesitantly. But...I can see this isn't your first drink.” he said, chuckling.  
“No way...I've drank plenty of times. But I've never been drunk off my arse before...thank the gods for that. I would probably act like a bloody lunatic if I got too drunk.” she said, laughing.

He laughed with her and they talked a little more, and learned more about one another. She said,  
“Brynjolf? I have another question for you.”  
“Ask away, lass.” he answered, smiling.  
“That scar on your face...where did it come from?”  
“Oh that? Bah, nothing really serious. I just had a skirmish with another lad awhile back...I was a bit younger than, also pretty foolish and careless. I was caught picking his pocket, and he started to swing at me. I fought him for awhile, and I won. Gallus...may he rest in peace...approached me afterwords and asked me to join the Guild even though I mucked it up picking the guy's pocket. I guess he was impressed with my fighting and saw something special in me that would make me into the thief I am today. I accepted right away since I was homeless and both of my parents had passed away a long time ago. I became his protégé actually.” he explained.  
“Oh, wow. That's very interesting. I'm just glad it wasn't too serious. Well what he saw in you must have been true, because you're the Guild's second-in-command now.” she responded.  
“I guess so.” he said, smiling.  
“We should get going here soon. Whiterun isn't too far from here now.” she said, smiling back.  
He nodded and they packed up their things and got back onto their horses, heading straight for Whiterun. 

They arrived to Whiterun's stables after what felt like weeks but in reality it only took them about 2 or 3 days. They paid the stable master to watch their horses for them, and he gladly took the coin offered. They walked to the gate and were being watched closely by the two guards standing at the sides of the gates. They both just ignored them and headed to the Bannered Mare which was the most popular tavern in this town. Brynjolf was used to Riften and has been here before but Catriona liked Riften more than this city it looked too...uppity. Even her hometown in High Rock didn't look this way. They got to the Bannered Mare finally, but of course not without getting looks of suspicions from all the civilians. They entered the tavern and looked around for a shady looking guy sitting in a corner or by himself. They walked around and saw an Imperial man sitting in the kitchen area of the Mare and he was alone. He looked sickly with how pale he was. They glanced at one another and nodded, both agreeing that he was probably the one they were to meet with. They both approached him and he wasn't paying attention to who they were and was just drinking his mead. 

Brynjolf cleared his throat and that made Mallus jump slightly and said, still not looking at who they were,  
“Can't a man drink in peace?”  
“Maven said you were expecting us...Maccius.” said Catriona, sounding rather business-like with her arms crossed while leaning on her leg making her hip stick out more.  
Hearing a female voice made Mallus look up rather quickly. He then saw they were both thieves and one, being Brynjolf, was a Guild higher up. He straightened up when he saw Brynjolf was standing rather intimidating above him with arms crossed, looking down at him under his hood. Catriona had her hood up as well. But the way she was standing made him give her a once over. She rolled her eyes and thought to herself,  
“What is with these men looking at me like a bunch of perverted horn dogs??”  
“Well, well. It's about time you got here. Nice to see the Thieves Guild women seem to live up to their rumors with being gorgeous...”  
Brynjolf started to become irritated with how he was looking at her right now. He was very overprotective of her and he had no idea why. Catriona uncrossed her arms and spoke saying, sounding uncomfortable,  
“Just tell us what this job is, Maccius...”  
But he just kept looking at her with the same look and said,  
“Before that starts. I need to know your name, beautiful.”  
Brynjolf could tell she was becoming very uncomfortable and was shifting her weight from one foot to the other, trying to avoid eye contact, while also re-crossing her arms tightly over her chest since he was staring at that area the most. Brynjolf leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear,  
“Cat...can you go wait outside please?”  
The way he whispered in her ear made her shiver slightly because of how he sounded when he said that, and she turned to him, smiled and left the room. He flashed her a smile too and watched her leave just to make sure she actually went outside, and she did. Mallus called after her saying,  
“Hey! Where are you going, sweetheart??”  
She left the room smiling widely because she knew that Brynjolf would take care of this perverted man and get the information they actually needed for the job.

After she was out of sight, Mallus said, idiotically and suggestively,  
“Damn...she was sexy. Nice view watching her leave the room though.”  
Brynjolf's fists clenched and he slowly turned to face him and suddenly lunged at him, grabbing a hold of his shirt and yanking him out of the chair making the man's eyes widen and Brynjolf had him in the air slightly, shoving him back against the wooden wall of the Inn making Mallus grunt and look like he would cry at any minute. Brynjolf pulled his dagger out with his free hand and held it to his neck, Mallus put his hands up in surrender and cried out,  
“Hey, hey, hey! Whoa, whoa...ta-take it e-easy there pal!”  
“Shut the fuck up, Maccius! I'm warning you right now...if you EVER look or talk to her like that again...I'll kill you without hesitation. Now...do I make myself perfectly goddamned clear?”  
“Y-YES! Chrystal! I swear on my life...it won't happen again!” cried out Mallus, clearly scared to death.  
“Good...” stated Brynjolf, low and threatening.  
He let him go, slowly stepping away and not even trying to help him stand up as he fell to the ground very hard. Brynjolf just slowly sheathed his dagger again. Seeing he was still on the ground, he sighed and rolled his eyes and grabbed a hold of his shirt again, but this time the back of it, lifting him up rather harshly and just dropping him back into the chair he was in before. Mallus was still very afraid of him and Brynjolf said, crossing his arms again,  
“Now, tell me about this job. What we really came here for...not for you to fucking gawk at my partner. Come on...time is wasting, lad. Or do I have to beat the information out of you since you don't want to talk because of how you almost pissed yourself not too long ago?”  
“N-No! That won't be necessary...I-I'll tell you about the job.” Mallus said, stuttering still.  
Brynjolf smirked and gestured for him to continue saying,  
“By all means then, lad...tell me.”  
Mallus went on to explain to Brynjolf everything that was to be done. They were to lend a “helping hand” to Sabjorn with his very large pest problem. He told him that he would be given the pest poison by Sabjorn himself, and they were to poison the skeever nest in the basement but needed to dump the rest of it into the brewing vat since he was holding a tasting for Whiterun's captain of the guard. It wouldn't kill him just make him very sick. Brynjolf then said, after he was done explaining things to him,  
“Why thank you, Mallus...for finally giving me the damn information I needed. Now...if you'll excuse me...I have to get back to my partner and tell her what you told me.”  
Mallus just nodded vigorously and waited till Brynjolf left the tavern entirely to let out the breath he had been holding ever since he got done explaining the job to him. 

Brynjolf walked out of the Mare and Catriona was leaning against the wall outside near the door with her arms crossed. As soon as she saw him come out she got off the wall and walked over to him saying,  
“That took awhile...did that arse finally give you the information we needed for this job?”  
“Well...I kind of had to, um...persuade...him to give me the information. But yes, I got it all. Sounds fairly simple.”  
“Bryn...what did you do to him??” she asked, crossing her arms again.  
“Nothing at all.” he stated, cracking a smile.  
“You threatened him didn't you?” she asked, smiling back.  
“Yeah.” he stated, still smiling.  
“Oh, Bryn...you're the greatest!” she exclaimed, smiling widely.  
“I'm the best at what I do, lass...now, let's get over to the meadery.” he said.  
He explained to her what they were to do with the job, and she listened intently. They both headed for the meadery but not without changing into regular clothes. Catriona dressed in a blue dress, a simple silver locket and black knee high boots, while Brynjolf wore a simple tan, tunic and a pair of black pants with brown knee high boots. They stowed their Guild armors into their knapsacks on their horses. Catriona couldn't help but glance at Brynjolf every now and then as they were headed for the meadery which was in walking distance. He looked so...different in regular clothes. But he looked just as handsome. He liked the way she looked too but both kept their glances at one another very discreet to where the other never noticed them.

They arrived at Honnigbrew Meadery and glanced at one another giving the other a nod. They both entered and saw the distraught owner, Sabjorn, frantically cleaning up blood from a skeever that got caught into a bear trap. Catriona looked around in disgust, and Sabjorn then said, in a snobby voice,  
“What are you gawking at?? Can't you see I have problems here?!”  
“Something wrong, lad?” asked Brynjolf, sounding like a normal person just there for mead.  
“Are you kidding me? Look at this place! This place has quite the pest problem...and I'm supposed to be holding a tasting for the captain of the guard later! If he sees the meadery in this state...I'm ruined.” explained Sabjorn.  
“Could you use some help, sir?” asked Catriona, turning on her natural charm.  
“Oh really? And I suppose you won't do this just out of the kindness of your heart? I hope you aren't expecting to get paid until the job's done...” said Sabjorn, sounding like he wasn't giving up coin that easily.  
“That's the only way we operate, lad...take it or leave it.” stated Brynjolf, sounding and looking very serious.  
Sabjorn sighed and said,  
“Oh, very well...here's half. You both get the rest when the job's done...”  
He handed them both 500 septims, which they gladly took and tied onto their belts. They both had their daggers equipped as well. Catriona smiled and said,  
“How will we get rid of the vermin?”  
“I bought some poison. If you put this in their nest they'll never come back. I was going to have my useless assistant Mallus take care of it...but he seems to have vanished.” answered Sabjorn, handing her two bottles of pest poison and a key to the basement.  
They both nodded and left to head downstairs. They had hoped this would be as simple as they thought it was going to be.

They finished the job and were both panting as a maniac they had no idea about laid at their feet in a pool of his own blood. They looked at each other and Catriona said,  
“I really wish Maccius mentioned this lunatic!”  
“Yeah no kidding...he was hard to kill. I guess he thought of himself as the King of the skeevers and frostbite spiders that were back there...” said Brynjolf, panting still.  
“Well...all that's left is the pour the rest of this poison into the brewing vat like Maccius told you we needed to do.” said Catriona.  
He nodded and they headed for the brewing part of the meadery. They looked around for the main vat, and they found it. Catriona gladly did the honor of pouring the rest of it into it. They did it just in time because they heard the door opening and they picked the lock to get out of the brewing area. They practically ran into the main part of the meadery where Mallus was waiting too and sat down at the table with chairs in the room looking as unsuspecting as possible. Sabjorn walked in not even minutes later and was carrying a small mead barrel, of what the captain of the guard would be tasting. Sabjorn looked at them and whispered, harshly,  
“It's about time you two got done! I had to stall the captain until you both were finished”  
“What about the rest of our pay, sir?” asked Catriona, acting innocent.  
“You'll both just have to wait until the captain is done...I suppose you can wait around, if you must...” said Sabjorn.  
He then walked over to the counter setting the mead barrel down onto it and the captain of the guard got a goblet ready and said,  
“Well, Sabjorn now that you've taken care of your little pest problem, I can get a taste of your mead.”  
“By all means...enjoy yourself. I call this Honnigbrew Reserve, it's a new brew I came up with not too long ago. I hope it's very pleasing to your palette...” answered Sabjorn, smiling.  
“Oh come now...this is mead, not some wine to be sipped and savored.” said the captain, as he poured the tainted mead into his goblet.  
He took a sip and immediately scrunched his face up and dropped his goblet spilling what was left of it saying, sounding sick,  
“By the eight...wh-what's in this?”  
“Um...I-I don't know...what's wrong?” said Sabjorn, sounding nervous now, no longer smiling.  
“You assured me this place was clean! I should have known this place would never be clean when it's been riddled with filth!” exclaimed the captain, holding his stomach.  
“I-I don't understand!” exclaimed Sabjorn, sounding worried.  
“Maybe your head will be cleared when you're put in shackles...you're coming with me to Dragonsreach! Now...move!” exclaimed the captain, unsheathing his sword.  
“I beg you please! This is not what it seems!” exclaimed Sabjorn.  
“I said move!” exclaimed the captain, grabbing a hold of Sabjorn's arm and pulling him out of the meadery.  
“Farewell, Sabjorn...” stated Mallus, smiling widely.  
Sabjorn looked at the three of them with anger and betrayal. They all just smiled and when he was out of the meadery with the captain Mallus said to them,  
“I don't think that could have gone any better. Anything else you two need before heading back to Riften?”  
“We need to get a look at Sabjorn's books.” stated Catriona.  
“Ah, so Maven wants to find out who Sabjorn's secret little partner is, huh? He keeps all his books upstairs in his desk. Here...this should help. They're in his room right near his bed.” he answered, not even attempting to hit on her now and handing her a key he pulled out of his pocket.  
She took the key and nodded. She then headed upstairs with Brynjolf following close behind her.

They got to his room and went straight to the desk near the bed and she unlocked it. There was an unsealed letter that looked like the one she had found at Goldenglow. She took it and opened it up. It revealed that Sabjorn was working with the same person who used the symbol that was on the note at Goldenglow. Brynjolf said,  
“Looks like someone is trying to drive a wedge between Maven and the Guild...”  
“Yeah...we need to get back home. This information needs to be shown to Maven.” stated Catriona.  
He nodded and they headed back to the stables to change back into their Guild armors and left for Riften not too long after. They had hoped that Maven would be satisfied with what they had found.

They didn't stop much on the way back to Riften so they got there in about a day and a half. Brynjolf went back down to the Guild and Catriona went to Maven right away and gave her the parchment found at the meadery. She opened it immediately and said, while reading it,  
“This doesn't tell me much...all there is to identify Sabjorn's partner is this odd little symbol...”  
“Yes, I've seen that symbol before.” answered Catriona  
“Well...whoever this symbol represents are going to regret starting a war with me...there's also the matter of your payment...I think you'll find this more than adequate for your services...” said Maven, handing her an enchanted ebony dagger.  
She nodded and took the dagger. She was actually okay with this reward. It was a pretty valuable item, she could sell it for a bigger price to an unsuspecting merchant. She left the Bee and the Barb, and headed back down to the Guild. When she was back down there, she was met with her mother and she said,  
“Oh! Catie! You're back! And your okay!”  
She then rushed over to her and gave her a big hug. Catriona felt like she was suffocating and said, struggling to talk,  
“Y-Yes...I-I'm alright, mum...”  
She pulled away and said,  
“Oh...sorry, honey...I just was worried. Maven is known for being a cold-hearted woman. Your father was worried too. Oh, I have something to tell you something, Catie.”  
“I know...but it all went well since you had Brynjolf go with me. What is it, mum?” she answered.  
“Well...while you were away on that job, your father asked me to marry him.” said Enora, smiling.  
“What?! He did?! Well, what did you say?!” exclaimed Catriona, very happy.  
“I said yes, of course you silly girl!” said her mom, smiling wider.  
“By the gods! I am so happy!” said Catriona, smiling and practically jumping up and down.  
“So am I, Catie! I was surprised he asked me so suddenly, but I didn't hesitate to tell him yes.” said Enora.  
“When is the wedding? And is it at the Temple of Mara?” asked Catriona.  
“It will be today actually. And yes, it's at the Temple.” stated Enora.  
Shortly after she told her that, Delvin made an appearance in the Cistern and was smiling on the way over to them. Catriona ran over to him and practically tackled him, but he kept his balance and stayed on his feet. He chuckled and said,  
“I take it your mother told ya we're gettin' hitched?”  
“Yes, she told me! What are we waiting for?! Let's go to the Temple! The sooner the better!” exclaimed Catriona.

They both nodded and the family headed to the Temple. A small but quaint ceremony was performed by the head priest, Maramal. Basically all of the Guild members attended the ceremony...all but Mercer. He didn't care about them getting married. He was just a bitter, creep of a man. The ceremony lasted about an hour and they were now officially a married couple. Brynjolf approached Catriona a few minutes after the ceremony was completed and said,  
“Mercer wants to see you right away. He thinks he knows how to identify this new thorn in our side.”  
“What? Why now? Right after my parents got married? Does that man have a black hole where his heart is supposed to be??” said Catriona, sounding annoyed.  
“I'm sorry, lass...but I don't feel like making him wait any longer. He doesn't have much patience.” he said, apologetic.  
“Ugh...fine...I'll go see what he wants.” stated Catriona.  
She told her parents congratulations and also said Mercer needed to see her and right away. She then left the Temple and went back down to the Guild.

She entered through the secret entrance and went right over to his desk where he was impatiently waiting for her. She walked over with caution and he looked up and said, sneering,  
“Ah...there you are.”  
“You wanted to see me...?” she asked.  
“I've consulted my contacts regarding the information you recovered from Goldenglow Estate, but no one can identify that symbol...” he said, sounding as monotone as always.  
“I found the same marking at Honnigbrew Meadery.” she stated simply.  
“It would seem our adversary is attempting to take us apart by angering Maven. Very clever.” he stated, looking her up and down as he said it.  
“Clever or not...they need to die.” she stated, completely dismissing their “no killing” rule.  
“Don't dismiss our adversary so easily.” he snapped, and made her flinch, he continued speaking saying, “They're well-funded, patient and have been able to avoid identification for years. However, don't mistake my admiration for complacency, our nemesis is going to pay dearly...”  
“How can we make them pay, then?” asked Catriona, crossing her arms now.  
“Because, even after all their posturing and planning...they've made a mistake. The parchment you recovered mentions a 'Gajul-Lei.' According to my sources, that's an old alias used by one of our contacts. His real name is Gulum-Ei...slimy bastard...” he said, saying the last part quietly, but still enough for her to hear.  
“Where do I begin?” she asked.  
“Gulum-Ei is our inside man at the East Empire Company in Solitude. I'm betting he acted as a go-between for the sale of Goldenglow Estate and that he can finger our buyer. Get out there, shake him down and see what you come up with. Talk to Brynjolf before you leave if you have any questions.” he explained, still looking her up and down as he finished speaking. 

She shivered at his gaze on her, and she walked away quickly. Everyone was back from the Temple now, and Brynjolf met her halfway and said,  
“I can't believe Gulum-Ei is mixed up in all of this...that Argonian couldn't find his tail with both hands. Don't get me wrong...he can scam a beggar out of his last septim, but he's no master mind.”  
“Think he'll give me trouble?” she asked.  
“Trouble?? Haha...he's one of the most stubborn lizards I've ever met. You're going to have to buy him off. That's the only way to get his attention.” he explained to her.  
“Betrayal or not...I'll let him live.” she said.  
“Good. It would be a waste to lose such a contact as him especially one involved with the East Empire Company.” he said.  
She nodded, and smiled. She walked towards the secret entrance, and he said, as she was walking away,  
“Be careful, lass...keep him alive, but remind him who we are...”  
She looked over her shoulder and smiled, nodding again. She was now headed to Solitude. Brynjolf needed to stay behind since he was the second-in-command and she was on her own with this mission. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard for her and she would get done very quickly.


	9. Soundrel's Folly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona arrives to Solitude to meet up with Gulum-Ei...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY for the large gaps in between my updates! I haven't been avoiding writing, I promise...I just wanted to write a few chapters before posting them, so you all have at least 2 or 3 new chapters to read. Anyways, I hope you enjoy them! And yes, I've used actual dialogue from the game itself, and they get full credit for it all!

Catriona feared Mercer more than she hated him. She had no idea the intentions for her he had in his mind. She was sent to Solitude with no back up this time, so she hoped this Argonian wasn't a dangerous man. It took her about a week get there without stopping in the carriage she hired. She paid the driver a very large tip and thanked him for the ride. She was in her Guild armor so the driver knew he would be given a pretty decent tip since she stole as a career. She approached the gate of the very large city and looked around amazed. The city was beautiful. She was given suspicious looks by guards of course, but she just brushed them off. She entered the city's gate, and there was a large group of people gathered near a stone stage with a chopping block in the middle of it. A Nord man was in rags, and his wrists were clapped in irons. While another Nord man, with black hair and a small beard stood there overlooking everything and a headsman, whom was a Redguard man stood near the block, and his large headsman's axe in his hand, while it rested on the ground too. He looked very intimidating.

Catriona saw a little girl talking to her father behind the locals gathered and said, to her father,  
“They can't hurt Uncle Roggvir. Tell them he didn't do it.”  
“Positions...” which was the black haired Nord, who must have been a captain.  
After he said that a guard blocked the stone stairs leading up to them, sword drawn.  
“Svari, you need to go home. Go home and stay there until your mother comes...” replied the father, pointing to the other side of the city. And the little girl ran that way.  
“You should tell her that her Uncle is scum that betrayed his High King...best she know now, Addvar.” said a Breton woman, walking to stand with the other locals.  
“You're all heart, Vivienne...” said Addvar, as he went to go stand in the very front next to a Nord woman, whom Catriona assumed was his wife. The wife looked very distraught, upset. The man in rags and chains must have been her brother, who Catriona assumed was this Roggvir the little girl mentioned to her father.  
“By the Divines...this is a public execution...” whispered Catriona, to herself.   
The black haired Nord man, dressed like a captain of the guard here, said to the prisoner,  
“Roggvir, you helped Ulfric Stormcloak escape this city after he murdered High King Torygg. By opening that gate for Ulfric you betrayed the people of Solitude.”  
“TRAITOR!” yelled a Nord man.  
Roggvir approached the block and was about to talk to everyone, probably as his last words he will ever speak. A man yelled,  
“HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO SPEAK!”  
“There was no murder! Ulfric challenged Torygg. He beat the High King in fair combat.” spoke Roggvir, addressing the angry citizens.  
“LIAR!” yelled a High Elf woman.  
“Such as our way! Such as the ancient custom of Skyrim, and all Nords!” yelled Roggvir, confidently.  
“BOOOOO!” yelled all of the citizens besides his sister and her husband.  
“Cut 'em down!” yelled the Breton woman from earlier.  
“Guard. Prepare the prisoner.” spoke the captain.  
“I don't need your help...” stated Roggvir.  
“Very well, Roggvir...bow your head.” said the captain.

With that Roggvir got to his knees and the captain put his foot onto his back and pushed him down further, so he was completely on the block. Roggvir spoke some very last words,  
“On this day...I go to Sovngarde...”  
The headsman raised his axe and thrust it down, cutting his head off making a sickly squishing, and thud noise as his head rolled away. Catriona looked away as they chopped his head off but she still heard the noise. She felt nauseous and woozy after all that. She didn't feel this when she had to kill that mercenary at Goldenglow, but this time she did and didn't know why. She shook it off and as the crowd dispersed and went back to their homes or wherever they were before this execution, she headed for the Inn which is where she was told Gulum-Ei would be found. She opened the doors to the Inn and saw no one even seemed upset at how that poor man was executed or the reason why. She then saw the one she was looking for, who was the only Argonian at the Inn, and he was sitting at a table in a small room by himself, near where the bar was. She approached him and he said,  
“Well, well, what do we have here, hm? From your scent I'd say you were from the Guild but...that can't be right because I told Mercer I wouldn't deal with them anymore...”  
“I'm here about Goldenglow Estate.” she stated, simply.  
“I don't deal in land or property, so you can be on your way then...” he said, not budging.  
“You can drop the act now...Gajul-Lei...” she said, crossing her arms.  
His whole demeanor changed after she said his alias and he said,  
“Oh, wait...did you say Goldenglow Estate...my apologies. I'm afraid I know very little about that, what was it? Bee farm, wasn't it?” he said, still trying to act clueless and not fooling her one minute.  
“You acted as a broker in the purchase of the Estate. Identify who the buyer was and we'll forget what we know.” she said, using her masterful persuasion.  
“All right...had I known the deal would bring me this much trouble, I never would have accepted the gold...” he said, rolling his eyes and sounding defeated. He continued saying,  
“I was approached by a mysterious woman...she flashed a bag of gold in my face and said all I had to do was buy a copy of the deed.”  
“Who was she?” asked Catriona.  
“I don't know. But I do know that she was extremely angry and that anger was being directed at Mercer Frey.” he answered.  
“I think you're lying to me...” stated Catriona, suspicious.  
“Look...that's all I know. Now, if you'll excuse me I have other matters to attend to...” he said, sounding annoyed with her.

With that he pushed past her and she grunted as he did so. He left the Inn and she followed close behind him, but not too close, since she didn't want to be caught. She followed him all the way to the East Empire Company building, she had to pick the lock to get in, since he must have locked it behind him as he entered. She was in her sneaking position as she slowly followed him. She had to be aware of the East Empire wardens guarding the place and make sure she wasn't seen or heard as she snuck past them all. She followed him all the way to the other side of the building and he entered a hidden room behind a bunch of shelves, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion and opened the door to continue her tailing of him. Now there were bandits she had to worry about, she snuck past them using her invisibility potions, and never triggered an alarm with them. She followed him more and all the way to the end of this secret area of the East Empire building. She had to kill the few bandits that were around where he was at. She snuck up behind them all and slit their throats with her glass daggers. Her invisibility wore off and she confronted Gulum-Ei, she had an angry expression on her face, but her weapons were sheathed. She crossed her arms and he said, hands up in surrender with a look of fear on his face,  
“Now, there's no need to do anything rash...this isn't as bad as it seems. I was gonna tell Mercer about everything...honestly! Please...he'll have me killed!”  
“Tell me the details than I decide...” stated Catriona.  
“Alright, alright! Karliah! Her name is Karliah!” he exclaimed, basically begging for his life.  
“You say that name like I should know it.” she responded, narrowing her eyes at him again.  
“Mercer never told you about her? Karliah is the thief responsible for murdering the previous Guild Master, Gallus. Now, she's after Mercer.” he responded.  
“And you're helping, her??” she asked, looking very angered now.  
“Help...? No, no! Look I didn't even know it was her until after she contacted me. Please, you have to believe me!” he said, sounding afraid again.  
“Did she say where she was going?” asked Catriona.  
“I don't know. When I asked her where she was going she just muttered 'Where the End began.' Here take the Goldenglow Estate Deed as proof. And when you speak to Mercer, tell him I'm worth more to him alive.” he explained.  
“I'll keep quiet about your little scam...but you owe me.” she said, smiling slyly.  
He smirked and said,  
“Now, you're speaking my language. Tell you what...if you need any stolen goods fenced, you bring them to me and I'll pay you good money for them. Consider me your new...friend in the North. Now you won't forget to tell Mercer I cooperated, will you?”  
Sounding worried towards the end, and she just rolled her eyes and left. Which worried the Argonian. 

She made her way back to Riften. She was certain Mercer wanted to know about what she had just found out. She ran to the Guild's secret entrance and entered it quickly. She entered the Cistern, walking straight over to Mercer, who was pacing back and forth looking as impatient as ever. She was at his desk and he said,  
“Did Gulum-Ei give up any information regarding our buyer?”  
“Yes. He told me that it was approached by a woman named, Karliah.” she answered.  
“No...it...it can't be. I haven't heard that name in decades...she's someone I had hoped to never cross paths with again...” he said, wide-eyed.  
“Gulum-Ei also told me she's a murderer.” stated Catriona.  
“Karliah destroyed everything this Guild stood for. She murdered my previous predecessor in cold blood, and she fled when we discovered her treachery. I know her skills, her fighting style, and her moves...if she kills me there will be no one else to stop her. If only we knew where she was...” said Mercer.  
“He said she told him she was going 'where the end began.'” answered Catriona.  
“There's only one place by that name. It's the place where she murdered Gallus. An ancient tomb called Snow Veil Sanctum. We need to get there before she escapes again.” he said.  
“'We', sir?” she asked, confused.  
“Yes...I'm going there with you. I'll head there now. Meet me there as soon as possible...we can't let her slip through our fingers.” he said, demanding.  
“Understood. I'll head there now.” she said.  
He nodded and left the Guild. But no one knew where they were going...and no one would know until much later...


	10. Speaking With Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona arrives at Snow Veil Sanctum to meet up with Mercer...

Mercer had told her where to go, and she took a carriage to the nearest city and traveled the rest of the way there on foot. It was in the middle of a cold, harsh Hold. She didn't know which one but she was pretty sure it was Winterhold. She surprisingly didn't run into any trouble on the way to this crypt. She just hoped this wouldn't take too long for her to do with Mercer, she wanted to get back to her parents, and see how they were she hasn't really got to see them lately because of all these jobs she needed to do for the Guild. 

She finally got to the crypt and saw Mercer standing outside looking as impatient as ever. His arms were crossed, he was frowning and was looking around at everything with a disgusted look on his face as usual. At her approach he said,  
“Good...you're finally here. I've done some scouting of the area and I'm certain Karliah is still inside.”  
“You saw her?” asked Catriona.  
He sneered, narrowed his eyes and said, voice thick with sarcasm,  
“No, I found her horse...but, don't worry I've taken care of it. She won't be using it to escape. Now...let's get this over with. You lead...”  
“You want me to lead?” questioned Catriona.  
“Just do it...” he said, sighing and rolling his eyes.  
She rolled her eyes too, and she went right in front of him and went down the stairs leading to the door of the crypt. It was locked up tight by some type of special lock. Mercer said, approaching the door,  
“A lot of people say some of these ancient Nordic crypts are near impenetrable...but people say these locks have a weakness...quite simple really.”  
He picked it with something, but Catriona couldn't see what because he was blocking her view of whatever it was. He pocketed it really quick, to where she couldn't even glance at it. He said after the door was unlocked,  
“There we are...after you...”  
She opened the heavy iron door of the tomb and entered. It was very eerie inside, she's never been in these types of places. They walked in and she heard Mercer say,  
“Ugh...this place reeks of death. Be on your guard...”

They continued through the crypt and faced Draugr, which are the ancient Nord undead that still wander the halls of these crypts, and Karliah left behind many traps for them to have to avoid. They approached a very large door with 3 pictures on it vertically and a keyhole with three holes and the picture of a Dragon claw as a part of it. Mercer approached the door and said,  
“Oh look...it's one of those Nordic puzzle doors...how quaint...these doors are normally impossible to open without the Dragon claw code key to open it with. And as I'm certain that Karliah already made off with it we're pretty much stuck. But...these doors have a weakness all it takes is a bit of know how and a lot of skill...”  
He picked it with the same thing as before but she of course couldn't see it, because he was blocking the view. The door then made a grinding noise, making each of the symbols line up to match one another and it slowly opened up for them. He stepped away and said,  
“I'm certain Karliah is close...be ready for a fight.”  
Catriona nodded and went ahead of him stepping into the room the door was keeping locked away. Taking a few steps into the room, she felt a burning, stabbing pain hit her in her chest, paralyzing her...and she fell to the ground blacking out...

She woke up, but couldn't move anything on her, she could only move her eyes. She couldn't even really speak. She had a blurred image of Mercer and a dark elf woman speaking to one another. Her bow and arrow ready to strike. Mercer spoke, sounding cocky and as if he was sneering,  
“Did you honestly think your arrow will reach me before my blade finds your heart?”  
“Give me a reason to try...” spoke the woman, with a proper English accent. Sounding very angry at Mercer.  
“You're a clever girl, Karliah. Buying Goldenglow Estate and funding Honnigbrew Meadery was inspired.” spoke Mercer, with the same tone as before.  
“'To ensure an enemy's defeat, you must first undermine his allies.' It was the first lesson Gallus taught us.” said Karliah.  
“You always were a quick study.” stated Mercer.  
“Not quick enough...otherwise Gallus would still be alive.” said Karliah.  
“Gallus had his wealth and he had you. All he had to do was look the other way.” said Mercer, sounding just as cocky as before.  
“Did you forget the oath we took as Nightingales? Did you expect him to simply ignore your methods?” questioned Karliah.  
“Enough of this mindless banter! Come, Karliah...it's time for you and Gallus to become reunited!” exclaimed Mercer, unsheathing both his swords.  
Karliah sheathed her bow and arrow, and drank something...a potion perhaps. And she became invisible and said,  
“I'm no fool, Mercer...crossing blades with you would be a death sentence. But I can promise you the next time we meet...it will be your undoing.”  
Mercer was looking around everywhere with his weapons still drawn, but as soon as he knew she was gone from this place he sheathed his weapons again and walked over to a still paralyzed Catriona laying on the cold, stone ground of the crypt. 

He smirked down at her and said,  
“Well...it seems Gallus' history has repeated itself. Karliah provided the means of me to be rid of you, and it seems like this tomb will become your final resting place. Farewell, Catriona...” he unsheathed his sword again and continued saying, “I'll be sure to send Brynjolf your regards...”  
Catriona couldn't scream, she opened her mouth to but nothing came out and he stabbed her right in her side. Her eyes widened and he just walked away, sheathing his sword nonchalantly. She felt herself losing consciousness and knew this was to be the end of her...or so she thought.

She woke up, blurred vision, and was outside Snow Veil Sanctum. And alive? She got up, rather fast and started to become frantic. Karliah was then seen and said, hands up,  
“Easy, easy. Don't get up so quickly. How are you feeling?”  
“Wait...you shot me!” Catriona exclaimed, pointing at her.  
“No...I saved your life. My arrow was tipped with a unique paralytic poison. It slowed your heart and kept you from bleeding out. Had I intended to kill you...we wouldn't be having this conversation.” she explained, crossing her arms.  
“Why save me?” questioned Catriona.  
“My original intention was to use that arrow on Mercer...but I never had a clear shot. I made a split second decision to get you out of the way and it prevented your death.” she spoke, sounding frustrated she didn't hit Mercer because of how he was cowardly hiding behind Catriona.  
“Then I'm in your debt.” stated Catriona, putting a hand over her heart with a slight bow of her head.  
“More than you'll ever realize...the poison on that arrow took me a year to perfect, I only had enough for a single shot. All I had hoped was to capture Mercer alive...” answered Karliah.  
“Why capture him alive?” asked Catriona.  
“Mercer must be brought to the Guild to answer for what he's done. He needs to pay for Gallus' murder...” Karliah said, sounding angered.  
“How will you prove his betrayal??” asked Catriona.  
“My purpose in using Snow Veil Sanctum to ambush Mercer wasn't simply for irony's sake. Before both of you arrived, I recovered a journal from Gallus' remains. I suspect the information we need is written inside.” she explained, pulling out a journal from her knapsack.  
“Well...what does it say?” questioned Catriona.  
“I wish I knew...the journal is written in some sort of language I've never seen before.” she said, looking disappointed.  
“Maybe...it can be translated?” Catriona asked, shrugging her shoulders.  
“Enthir...Gallus' friend at the College Of Winterhold. Of course...it's the only outsider Gallus trusted with the knowledge of his Nightingale identity.” she explained.  
“There's that word again...'Nightingale.'” stated Catriona, clearly confused.  
“There were three of us: Myself, Gallus, and Mercer. We were an anonymous splinter of the Thieves Guild in Riften. Perhaps, I'll tell you more about it later. Right now, you need to head to Winterhold with the journal and get it translated. Here, take these as well...they may prove useful for your journey.” she explained, handing her 4 different poisons. Very strong ones at that.  
“Karliah...can't you come with me to Winterhold?” asked Catriona.  
“I'm afraid not. There are preparations to make and Gallus' remains to lay to rest. I promise to join you there as soon as I can.” she said, handing her the journal. She then left her there, and Catriona just sighed and decided it was high time she went to Winterhold to get this show on the road.


	11. Hard Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catriona helps Karliah out more, and helps get a translation guide for Gallus' journal. Also Brynjolf and Catriona have their first sexual encounter together once she gets back to Riften to meet with Karliah and face the Guild...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I apologize I've been neglecting posting new chapters of this story. I've been writing more of "Unexpected Love" and paying more attention to that story because I really enjoy writing that one. ALSO, yes basically all of the dialogue is from the game itself and the quests they come with. So I apologize if it's boring, especially if you played the Thieves Guild questline multiple times before like I have lol. Anyways, ENJOY! I hope you like it.

She arrived to one of the coldest villages she ever had the displeasure of being in. But once she spoke to Enthir, she found out he could not translate it, since he did not know the language which was the language of the Falmer, a race that used to be the graceful Snow Elves but after years of hardship, slavery and living underground, they became the twisted, evil Falmer, they're blind but they have very sharp hearing. Enthir pointed her to the city of Markarth, or otherwise known as The City Of Stone. A wizard by the name of Calcelmo, who was a High Elf, was an expert of the Falmer language. She was to go and ask him to help. But, being very protective of his research, and studies, he refused to help. So she stole the key to the museum he mentioned to her and snuck past all the guards in it, making it to a tower office, where Calcelmo's work and experiments happened. She “borrowed” some paper and charcoal from his desk and went to the little statuette of the Falmer language, which would be used to translate the encoded journal of Gallus.

She made a rubbing of it and heard voices saying,  
“Search the tower...the thief couldn't have gotten far.”  
“Shit...” muttered Catriona, she put the rubbing in her knapsack without folding it since she didn't want to ruin it. She also wrapped it in cloth.   
She drank an invisibility potion and snuck past the guards who were now all searching for her. She exited the tower, and the potion wore off. She ran all the way to the stables and took a carriage to Winterhold so she could show the rubbing to Enthir and hoped it would help translate it. As soon as she got back to the freezing cold village, she entered the Inn where she had met Enthir beforehand. She figured they would be in the basement of the Inn so she headed down there. The owner nodded at her, basically in acknowledgment of who she was and who she was there to meet. She nodded back giving a small smile, and entered the basement. She saw both Karliah and Enthir standing at the end of the room, they both acknowledged her presence and Catriona handed him the rubbing and the journal. He took it right away and started to thumb through the pages. He said, eyebrow raised,  
“A rubbing, eh? I expected notes...I suppose it would be inappropriate of me to ask how you obtained this...so I'll simply leave it alone.”  
“It's quite the tale...” stated Catriona, rubbing the back of her neck.  
“Never mind then. Hmm. This is intriguing...but highly disturbing. It appears that Gallus had suspicions of Mercer Frey's allegiance to the Guild for months. Gallus had begun to uncover what he calls an...'unduly lavish lifestyle replete with spending vast amounts of gold on personal pleasures...'” explained Enthir.  
“Does the journal say where this wealth came from?” asked Karliah.  
“Yes. Gallus seems certain that Mercer had been removing funds from the Guild's treasury without anyone's knowledge.” answered Enthir.  
“Anything else, Enthir? Anything about...the Nightingales?” asked Karliah, hesitantly.  
“Hmm. Yes, here it is. The last few pages seem to describe 'the failure of the Nightingales' although it doesn't go into great detail. Gallus also repeatedly mentions his strong belief that Mercer desecrated something known as the 'Twilight Sepulcher.'” he responded.  
“Shadows preserve us...so it's true...” said Karliah, sounding very upset.  
“I-I'm not familiar with the Twilight Sepulcher...what is it? What's Mercer Frey done??” stated Enthir, clearly puzzled.  
“I'm sorry, Enthir...I can't say. All that matters is that we deliver your translation to the Guild immediately. Farewell, Enthir...words can't express.” said Karliah, sounding very thankful of his help.  
“It's alright, Karliah. You don't have to say a word.” he stated, and handed the journal back to Catriona with the translation with it.  
Enthir then left them there, and smiled at Karliah patting her shoulder before he left the room. Karliah said, to Catriona,  
“We must hasten to Riften before Mercer can do any more damage to the Guild.”  
“The journal mentioned a 'Twilight Sepulcher.'” stated Catriona, puzzled.  
“You've come this far...so, I see no harm in concealing it any longer. The Twilight Sepulcher is the temple to Nocturnal. It's what the Nightingales are sworn to protect with their lives.” explained Karliah.  
“Why does it require such protection?” asked Catriona.  
“Everything that represents Nocturnal's influence is contained within the walls of the Sepulcher. Now it seems Mercer's broken his oath with Nocturnal and defiled the very thing he swore to protect.” explained Karliah.  
“Thieves and temples...it just doesn't add up to me...” stated Catriona, looking confused.  
“I felt the same way when Gallus first revealed these things to me. I think given time, you'll understand what I mean.” she said.  
“I'd understand better if there was less mystery involved...” responded Catriona.  
“As a Nightingale...I've been sworn to secrecy regarding the Sepulcher. I know the Guild doesn't do much to foster faith, but I'm going to have to ask that you continue to trust me.” she said, hand over her heart.  
“Alright...I'll do it your way for now.” answered Catriona.  
“I'll make for Riften and scout the situation; see if I can discover what Mercer's up to. When you're ready, meet me at The Ragged Flagon. In the meantime, I wanted you to have this. It belonged to Gallus, but given the circumstances I think he'd approve.” she explained, handing her a black, enchanted sword with the symbol of a Nightingale on the handle.   
“I'll make sure I put it to good use.” said Catriona, smiling and taking the sword. Sheathing it in an extra sheathe she had on her belt.  
“If the Guild isn't willing to listen to reason...you might have to.” she stated, sounding saddened at the end of her sentence. 

Karliah then left. Catriona knew what she meant by “you might have to.” She would have to kill the Guild, if they weren't willing to listen to them...she knew she couldn't bring herself to do that. She knew why too: Her parents were members and so was Brynjolf. She cared about everyone in the Guild...a lot. But...she loved Brynjolf. She knew she did. She may only be 18 years of age right now...but she knew what love was when she felt it. She's felt it before. Yes, she's been with the Guild for a couple years now. But...she didn't know if he felt the same strong feelings that she had. She headed for the Guild, praying to the gods that they would all listen to them and not choose to believe them. 

She made it back to Riften, and headed straight for the Guild. She entered through the Ratway entrance, and went to the Flagon. Karliah met her at the door, and said, in a whisper,  
“I'm glad you're here. I think some of these people are beginning to suspect who I am. Are you ready to face the Guild?”  
Catriona had her head down and took awhile to respond but said, glancing up at her,  
“I'm ready...let's go...”  
“Keep your eyes open...I'm not sure what to expect when we enter the Cistern.” she whispered.  
They walked to the Cistern entrance, and everyone who remained in the Flagon were all glaring at them suspiciously. Catriona saw her parents weren't in here, neither was Vex. She sighed, and just hoped for the best result to turn out. They got into the Cistern and were met with Delvin, Vex, and Brynjolf standing there, weapons drawn, but Brynjolf had his arms crossed, looking very suspicious and angered. Delvin looked disappointed, so did Brynjolf. Even her mother looked upset, standing next to Delvin.

“You better have a damn good reason to be here with that murderer...” stated Brynjolf, sounding disappointed.  
“Please, lower your weapons so we can speak. I have proof that you've all been misled!” exclaimed Karliah.  
“No tricks, Karliah or I'll cut you down where you stand. Now, what's this so-called proof you speak of?” stated Brynjolf.  
“We have Gallus' journal. I think you'll find its contents disturbing.” said Karliah.  
Catriona stepped forward hesitantly, and shakily handed over the journal to Brynjolf. Who glanced at it and said, taking the journal gently,   
“Let me see. No...it...it can't be. I've known Mercer too long...”   
“It's true, Brynjolf. Every word. Mercer's been stealing from the Guild for years, right under your noses.” answered Karliah.  
“There's only one way to find out if what the lass says is true. Delvin...I'll need you to open the vault.” said Brynjolf, glancing over at Delvin.  
Delvin sheathed his dagger and said,  
“Wait just a blessed moment, Bryn. What's in that book? What did it say?”  
They all started to make their way over to the Guild's large vault and Brynjolf responded saying,  
“It says Mercer's been stealing from our vault for years. Gallus was looking into it before he was murdered.”  
“How can Mercer open up a vault that needs two keys? It's impossible. Could he pick his way in?” asked Delvin.  
“That door has the best puzzle locks money can buy. There's no way it can be picked open.” responded Vex.  
“He didn't need to pick the lock...” stated Karliah.  
“What's she on about??” questioned Delvin.  
“Use your key on the vault, Delvin. We'll open it up and find out the truth.” stated Brynjolf.  
Delvin made his way over to the vault, and used his key on it, but the vault didn't budge. He walked back over to the others and said,  
“I've used my key, but the vault's still locked up tighter than a drum. Now use yours.”   
Brynjolf made his way over to the vault next, pulling his key out and used it, opening the vault, he exclaimed,  
“By the Eight! It's gone, everything's gone! Get in here...all of you!”  
Everyone rushed into the now empty vault, and Delvin said,  
“The gold, the jewels...it's all gone.”  
“That son of a bitch! I'll kill him!” shouted Vex, unsheathing her dagger.  
“Vex! Put it away...right now. We can't afford to lose our heads...we need to calm down and focus.” scolded Brynjolf.  
“Do what he says, Vex...this ain't helpin' right now.” stated Delvin.  
“Fine...we do it your way. For now.” stated Vex, sheathing her dagger.  
“Delvin, Vex...watch the Flagon. If you see Mercer, come tell me right away.” said Brynjolf.  
Vex departed to the Flagon, while Delvin and Enora approached Catriona. They instantly became worried, and hugged their daughter, Delvin said,  
“Bloody hell, girl! We been worried sick about ya! Are you awright, Catie?”   
“Yes...I'm fine. Just...a little shocked is all...” answered Catriona.  
“What happened?” asked her mother.  
“Mercer...he tried to kill me too. But...Karliah saved me.” answered Catriona.  
“That fuckin' bastard, I'll kill him myself if he shows up here...don't worry, sweetheart...you're awright now. We'll end this one way or another.” answered Delvin.  
“I'm just glad you're back here safe and sound, Catie. Mercer will pay for this treachery. I have faith that you, Brynjolf and Karliah will end this. We will all be here keeping watch if he even dares come back here.” said her mother.  
Delvin gave her a kiss on her head and left to go and keep watch in the Flagon, same with her mother. She just stood in the middle of the empty vault, not knowing what to make of this situation. Brynjolf was then heard behind her, saying in a soft voice,  
“Lass...?”  
She jumped slightly and turned around to face him clearing her throat. She faked a smile, and said,  
“Yes, Brynjolf? What is it?”  
“Cat...I know you're very upset. There's no need to fake a smile for my behalf. But, I need to speak to you...it's urgent. I need to know more about this whole thing and what Karliah told you. Follow me.” he said, turning to leave the vault and headed for his quarters in hallway near the vault.

She followed him into there and he closed the door behind them. He signaled for her to tell him everything, and she explained it all in detail about what happened and what Karliah said about the Nightingales, Mercer's betrayal, his murder of Gallus, him framing her for it, everything. After she explained everything, he had his hands on his hips, and his head was down, like he was thinking very hard on this all. But, after awhile, he looked up at her and he pulled her to him, and she was now in his arms, and he held her there securely. His chin rested on the top of her head, and his arms were wrapped around her protectively. She didn't know what to make of this sudden behavior from him. He just held her and said, in a quiet, loving tone,  
“I was so worried about you, lass...I had no idea where you had gone. I thought we lost you. I even went out and searched for you, but you were nowhere to be found.”  
“I-I'm fine now, Bryn...I'm here and I'm fine.” she stated, reassurance in her tone. But also unsureness.  
“No you aren't. I can tell you're shaken up...Mercer...he tried to kill you. I would have never forgave myself if I allowed that to happen to you.” he said, still holding her close.   
She smiled to herself at his words...he cared about her...a lot. She wrapped her arms around his waist and savored the moment they were sharing. Brynjolf spoke again saying,  
“I don't know why it took so long for me to realize it...but...I love you, Cat. I know I do.”   
She gasped at his words and she pulled away and said, shocked,  
“R-Really? You...love me?”  
“Yes, lass...I do.” he answered, smiling. He put a hand on the side of her face and brushed some stray strands of hair out of her face and tucked them behind her ear.  
She started to tear up, but didn't let them fall and said,  
“I love you too, Bryn. I always have. Since we first met, I've loved you. But, I felt like I was only a kid to you and just your protege, nothing more than that.”   
“Well...it was like that at first, lass...but only because you were a kid, you were only 17 and a very good friend of mine's daughter. I didn't want to feel the wrath of Delvin if I happened to go after his 17 year old daughter. I was 27 at the time. I now know that I do, in fact, love you. I felt something then, I just didn't dwell on it because of how old you were.” he explained, smiling.  
She couldn't help but smile back. But Brynjolf, just looked at her and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, and looked at her with love in his gaze. His emerald eyes were soft, and suddenly...he leaned down slowly, making her wide eyed, and gasp in surprise. He half-smiled, and said,  
“It's alright, lass...”  
She became less tensed up and more comfortable, and let him lean down more, and with less than an inch in between their lips...he closed it. She melted into the kiss right away, closing her eyes slowly. He kissed her with passion, and kissed her slowly. He slid his hand down to her lower back, and pulled her closer intensifying the kiss. She moaned softly, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was short, so she was on her tip toes right now. But she lowered herself to the floor, completely and he pulled away putting his forehead against hers and his eyes were still closed, so were hers. They both slowly opened their eyes, and Brynjolf sighed and said, in a whisper,  
“It feels so good finally being able to kiss your lips, lass...”  
“I could say the same to you...” she said, dazed from the kiss.  
He chuckled and said,  
“What? Was the kiss that good, Cat? You seem dazed.”  
“Well...yeah...it was my first one so...it felt pretty damn great.” she said, still seeming dazed.  
“Your first kiss? I thought a woman as beautiful as you would have already had that.” he said.  
“Nope. I was too busy being a thief throughout my entire childhood and teen years to be concerned about a relationship...” she explained.  
He just pulled her closer to him again and their bodies were pressed together now. He said, sounding full of desire,  
“I don't think I want to just stop at a passionate kiss, lass.”  
“What do you mean by that?” asked Catriona, puzzled.  
“I want you, Cat...very badly...I thought I lost you, lass...now that you're here, I know you're alright...and I want a relationship with you. I just wanted to show my love for you this way.” he explained, breath hot against her face, making her shiver at his words.  
She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, looking down at the ground and looking worried. He noticed her change in mood and asked,  
“What's wrong, lass?”  
“U-Um...Bryn...I-I...have to tell you something. I thought you knew after I said I've never been kissed...but...I-I'm...um...I've never--” she started to explain. But he realized before she even finished her sentence. He said, closing his eyes and sighing,  
“Dammit...I should have realized that little detail. Sorry, lass. I'm not the brightest at times. Don't worry...I'll be gentle. I promise.”  
She smiled and said,  
“I know you will be, Bryn...I trust you.”  
He smiled back and he kissed her again the same way as before, but he started to pull at her Guild armor, and she smiled under his lips. She allowed him to start to strip her, slowly and passionately. She did the same to him, leaving them both down to their Guild pants. She removed his pants, he removed hers. Now they were both down to their undergarments. She became very shy all of a sudden, because she saw how beautiful he really was now, he was covered in scars, most were very old some looked more recent. And plus...she was half-naked in front of his eyes now. She blushed furiously, and put her head down to try and hide it. He put a hand underneath her chin and gently pulled her head upwards to face him. Her cheeks were flushed and she bit her lip, looking super shy and innocent. He gave her a small smile, and said,  
“Do you know how cute you look right now, lass?”  
“N-No...h-how am I cute? I-I feel so...shy right now...” she said, trailing off.  
“That's exactly why you're cute. Acting all shy...making me love you more.” he said, caressing her chin with his thumb slowly.   
She smiled at that, and he leaned down to kiss her again. This time, lifting her into his arms gently, carrying her over to his large double bed, with actual sheets and pillows instead of fur and straw like the usual beds around Skyrim. He set her down onto the bed, and gently laid her down onto it. He pulled away for now, and slowly got on top of her. He continued to kiss her, but this time her jawline, and neck, making her lean her head more to the side to give him more access. Her eyes were closed and she was softly moaning at every feeling of his lips on her skin. He found the tie of her bra and untied it, revealing her more to him. He pulled away to admire her form and how flawless her skin was. No scars, no blemishes...just smooth and like a porcelain doll. She had occasional freckles here and there, but they were just more to add about what was beautiful to him on her. 

He slowly ran his hand down from her neck, all the way to her panty line. Making her moan and keep her eyes closed. He found the tie to her panties now, and untied them next. She opened her eyes now, and felt shy again as she was fully exposed to him now. She began to blush again. He chuckled lightly and said,  
“It's alright, Cat...there's nothing to be shy about. You're beautiful in every way to me. I feel kind of bad...because you're so innocent and I'm definitely not. You're starting to make me feel like a villain stealing a young, innocent girl's virtue away from her.”  
She giggled at that and said,  
“Well...you're not a villain...but you're right about me being innocent...pure...untainted. Which makes me just as nervous about this...”  
“We can stop if you want to, lass.” he said.  
“No!” she exclaimed, rather quickly. He raised an eyebrow at her and she cleared her throat and continued saying, “...I mean...no, I don't want you to stop...I want this...more than you know.”  
“Oh I think I know, Cat. Because I feel the same way as you do about this wanting to continue.” he said, smiling again.  
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, this time initiating the kiss. She actually removed his underwear this time. They shifted themselves to be underneath the blankets, with him still being on top. 

She moaned under his lips, and started to feel more and more aroused. He was already there with that feeling. He pulled away and started to make his way down her body and to her...lower regions. She didn't know what he was going to do, but she already felt like she would love it. His head was now in between her thighs, and she looked down at him with question in her gaze, he smiled and said,  
“Don't worry, lass. You'll enjoy this. I promise. It will make me making love to you less painful and more pleasurable for you.”  
She nodded her head slowly, and he started to kiss her inner thighs, which made her gasp, and close her eyes again. His kisses felt so much more intensified as he kissed her in those areas. Then...she felt him start to kiss her on her most sensitive part of her body...her private area. But he was also slowly licking her there too, and she was starting to moan much louder and felt a lot more pleasure filling her body. As he did that, she started to grip the pillows under her head tightly, and bit her lower lip to muffle her loud moans as he kissed and licked her sensitive bud. She felt him pull away which made her whine in protest and he came back up to face her, he was panting and was very aroused right now. He laid on his side next to her, and she was still panting from the pleasure he just gave her. She was in so much ecstasy right now, and said, in between moans,  
“B-Bryn...I-I'm ready...I want you...I-I want you right now.”  
He readily got back on top of her and he kissed her lips, her not minding that she tasted herself on his lips, and he positioned himself in between her legs, and pulled away with his mouth still less than an inch away from her lips, and whispered,  
“Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you.”  
“Y-Yes...I'm sure...please, Bryn...please, take me...” she said, pleasure in her tone.  
He nodded his head and slowly sheathed himself inside of her. Both moaned as he did so. She gasped a little too, but only because this was a brand new feeling to her. He kissed her gently as he started to rock his hips slowly, and didn't want to go to fast because he wanted her to get used to the feeling of him inside her, and most importantly, he didn't want her to be in pain. He wanted her to feel pure pleasure and ecstasy. Plus...it's her first time, he wanted it to be memorable for her. She moaned quietly as he slowly thrust in and out of her. He whispered,   
“Tell me if it starts to hurt, alright?”  
She nodded her head, and wrapped her arms around his neck, as he buried his face into her shoulder, kissing her shoulder and neck. He kissed her lips too. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper inside of her making them both gasp and moan at the feeling. She wanted to give her virtue to him...and only him. She kissed his shoulder and chest as he was taking her. Making him moan quietly as she did that. After awhile he quickened his pace, but not too fast. They both felt the pop of her virginity burst slightly in her lower abdomen. She bled but not profusely, it was very slight. She didn't seem pained by it at all, she seemed like she loved it, and loved it a lot.

She was moaning more and more, and it was getting louder every time. She was surprised no one knocked on the door yet wondering what all the noise was. Brynjolf felt like he was going to go over the edge at any minute now, Catriona had a tightening feeling happening in her stomach, and lower regions...she didn't know what it was either. Both their breathing was starting to become quicker and moans were getting more frequent, and more louder. Brynjolf's breath was getting hitched and she was moaning his name as he took her a little faster than before. Both were very, very close now. He reached his climax a few seconds before her. After a few more thrusts he pulled out and collapsed on top of her. Both were panting and sweaty. Catriona's eyes were wide, but she was smiling. He couldn't help but chuckle at her expression. He said,  
“Are you alright there, lass?”  
“Hm...? Oh! Yes...I am fantastic at the moment. Bryn...that felt...so great. I thought it would hurt, but it really didn't.” she responded, sounding dazed at the beginning of her sentence.  
“I'm glad it didn't hurt. I would have felt horrible if it did.” he said, brushing hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear.   
He slid up and laid down next to her, and put his hand on her cheek and caressed it softly with his thumb. She smiled softly at him. He whispered, softly to her,  
“I love you, Cat...”  
“I love you too, Bryn. I always will.” she responded.  
“Well...we better get back to Karliah, she's probably wondering what took us so long to discuss everything.” he said, laughing lightly at the end of his sentence.  
“Oh, shit...I forgot about her...oops...I feel horrible now. Yes, let's get back.” she said, smiling sheepishly.  
Both shared one more kiss and got out of bed. Both redressed back into their Guild armors. He opened the door for her and she smiled saying,  
“Wow. A great lover AND a gentleman? You're definitely a keeper, Bryn.”  
She winked as she exited the room making him half-smile and follow after her. He shut his door behind him, and they saw Karliah standing in the middle of the Cistern, looking rather impatient. They both exchanged glances and smiled sheepishly at one another, and approached her in the middle. Karliah said,  
“Shadows preserve us...what took you both so long?”  
“We kind of got caught up in the discussion and lost track of time...sorry about that, lass.” stated Brynjolf, hiding the part of what really happened between them.  
“It's alright. I apologize, I should not have been so short with you. Brynjolf, the time has come to decide Mercer's fate. As the current Guildmaster, that decision falls onto you.” continued Karliah.  
“Aye, lass...I've come to a decision. Mercer tried to kill both of you, he betrayed the Guild, murdered Gallus, and made us question our future...he needs to die.” answered Brynjolf.  
“We have to be very careful, Brynjolf. Mercer is a Nightingale, an Agent of Nocturnal.” stated Karliah.  
“Then it's all true...everything I heard in the stories. The Nightingales, their allegiance to Nocturnal and the Twilight Sepulcher.” said Brynjolf, sounding amazed but shocked at the same time.  
“Yes. That is why we need to prepare ourselves and meet Mercer on equal footing. Just outside of Riften, beyond the Southeast Gate is a small path cut up the mountainside. At the end of that path is a clearing and an old standing stone. I'd ask you both to meet me there.” Karliah explained, and then headed out of the Cistern through the secret entrance. 

Brynjolf and Catriona just stood there in the middle of the Cistern and looked at one another. Brynjolf spoke to her saying,  
“Are you alright, Cat? You look a little nervous.”  
“Yes...it's just I'm very afraid to face that mad man...we've no idea what he's capable of...I mean, an Agent of Nocturnal? A man who serves a Daedra? We don't know what he will do to us all once we find him...and we've no idea what Karliah has planned for us either.” explained Catriona, nervousness in her tone.  
He brought her into his arms and gave her a reassuring embrace. His chin was on top of her head of course, and her head stopped at the base of his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist, since that was all she could do because of her shortness in height. His arms were around her shoulders, and he had his hand in her hair and was softly rubbing his hand through her hair. She smiled slightly because of how comforting he was being towards her. He pulled away and had his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her forehead softly and said,  
“It'll all be okay, lass. I promise. Let's get going, we don't want to make Karliah wait too long again.”  
He smiled at the end of his sentence and she nodded her head once. They headed out of the Cistern, putting their hoods up on the way out. 

They arrived at the clearing that she told them about and let brought their hoods down again and saw her standing there near a large stone with the symbol of a Nightingale on it. She saw them approaching and met them halfway and said,  
“I'm glad you're both here.”  
“What is this place?” asked Brynjolf.  
“This is the headquarters of the Nightingales, cut into the mountainside by the first of our kind. We've come to seek the edge we need to defeat Mercer.” answered Karliah.  
“What kind of an edge, exactly?” asked Catriona.  
“If you'll both follow me, I'll try to explain on the way.” stated Karliah.  
Both nodded their heads once in acknowledgment. Karliah then walked over to a wooden door in the mountainside, and opened it. The door was quite old because it scraped and creaked open rather loudly. They all entered it one by one. Brynjolf said, when he entered,  
“So, this is Nightingale Hall. I heard about this place when I joined the Guild, but I never believed it existed.”  
“The assumption that the Nightingales were just a myth was seeded within the Guild on purpose. It helped avert attention from our true nature. What's wrong, Brynjolf? I can almost hear your brow furrowing.” she said, glancing over her shoulder at him.  
“I'm trying to understand why I'm here, lass. I'm no priest...and I'm certainly not religious. Why pick me?” he said, looking confused.  
“This isn't about religion, Brynjolf...it's business.” she started, as they entered a much larger and more open space inside the cave. It looked run down and crumbling like no one's been there in ages. She continued speaking saying, “This is Nightingale Hall. You're the first of the uninitiated to set foot inside in over a century. Now, if you'll both proceed to the armory to don your Nightingale Armor, we can begin the Oath.”  
They all walked over to three standing stones with the same symbol painted onto them as the one was outside on the larger stone. Karliah, led because they had no idea what they were doing. She approached one of the 3 stones, the one in the middle specifically. She touched it, and this armor just appeared on her body. It was leather, all black, a hooded cape that concealed her entire face, and a black mask attached to the hood. The gloves were fingerless, and the armor was very tight fitting. She turned to face them and said,  
“What is troubling you? You both seem hesitant to don your armor. Just do what I did, it's very simple. No pain and you don't even feel anything.”  
They both exchanged glances again, and shrugged. Both approached the other two stones. Brynjolf went to the one on the left while Catriona went to the one on the right. 

They both touched their stones, and the armor appeared instantly on their bodies. They both jumped and started looking down at themselves wondering where the hell their Guild armor went, because it wasn't on anymore. It was just the Nightingale armor, with their same weapons they had before sheathed on their hips. Karliah, chuckled at their reactions and continued on. She walked over to a hallway, with a large gate in the doorway to another open room at the end of the hall. Karliah stopped in the middle, turning to face them. Brynjolf spoke saying,  
“Okay, lass...we've got these getups on...now what?”  
“Beyond this gate is the first step in becoming a Nightingale.” she stated.  
“Whoa there, lass. I appreciate the armor...but becoming a Nightingale? That was never discussed.” said Brynjolf, putting his hands up in the air in a “hold up” kind of position.  
“To hold any hope of defeating Mercer, we must have Nocturnal at our backs. If she's to accept you as one of her own, an arrangement must be struck.” explained Karliah.  
“What sort of an arrangement? I need to know the terms.” stated Brynjolf, sounding a little worried.  
“The terms are quite simple, Brynjolf. Nocturnal will allow you to become a Nightingale and use your abilities for whatever you wish. And in return, both in life and death, you must serve as a guardian of the Twilight Sepulcher.” explained Karliah.  
Brynjolf sighed and Catriona was a little frightened. Brynjolf continued saying,  
“Aye, there's always a catch. But at this point, I suppose there isn't much to lose. If it means the end of Mercer, you can count me in.”   
Karliah nodded once and turned to face Catriona saying,  
“What about you? Are you ready to transact the Oath with Nocturnal?”  
“Is there no going back after this is done and over with then?” asked Catriona, sounding worried.  
“Once the Oath has been struck, the terms are binding. Knowing this...are you ready to undergo the ceremony?” answered Karliah.  
She glanced over at Brynjolf, he nodded as if saying “It's alright, Cat...we can do this.” She sighed and nodded saying,  
“Yes...I'm ready.”  
“Good. After I open the gate, please stand on the western circle.” Karliah stated. 

Catriona nodded and Karliah turned to go and open the gate. She pulled a chain on the wall and it opened the gate. Karliah went to the central circle, Brynjolf went onto the eastern circle and Catriona went to the western one like she was told to do. Karliah put her hands up in the air, as if in a praising position and spoke out,  
“I call upon you Lady Nocturnal, Queen of Murk and Empress of Shadow...hear my voice!”  
After a few seconds a large blue ball of light appeared in the middle of the room, and it spoke to her a deeper, but feminine voice,  
“Ah, Karliah. I was wondering when I'd hear from you again. Lose something have we?”  
Karliah knelt down, and put her fist over her heart with her head bowed and said, sounding apologetic,  
“My Lady, I've come before you to throw myself upon your mercy and to accept responsibility for my failure...”  
“You're already mine, Karliah. Your terms were struck long ago. What could you possibly offer me now?” responded Nocturnal, sounding very indifferent.  
“I have two others that wish to transact the Oath...to serve you both in life and in death.” Karliah said, raising upwards and extending her hands both in the directions of Catriona and Brynjolf.  
“You surprise me, Karliah. This offer is definitely weighed in my favor.” stated Nocturnal, sounding happier.  
“My appetite for Mercer's demise exceeds my craving for wealth, Your Grace.” answered Karliah.  
“Revenge? How...interesting. Very well, the conditions are acceptable. You may proceed.” responded Nocturnal, sounding rather surprised but also indifferent still.   
Karliah stood back up to her feet and still had her fist over her heart and continued saying,  
“Lady Nocturnal, we accept your terms. We dedicate ourselves to you as both your avengers and your sentinels. We will honor our agreement in this life and the next until your conditions have been met.”   
At this time a light purple beam of light appeared around all three of them and Nocturnal spoke again saying,  
“Very well. I name your initiates...Nightingale and I restore your status to the same, Karliah. And in the future, I'd suggest you refrain from disappointing me again...”  
She sounded rather threatening at the end of her sentence but it was aimed towards Karliah mostly. Nocturnal disappeared, and all three met in the middle of the chamber. Karliah spoke, to both of them,  
“Now that you've transacted the Oath, it's time to reveal the final piece of the puzzle to you: Mercer's true crime.”  
“He's done more??” questioned Catriona, shocked at the fact that he's done more damage than he already has.   
“Mercer was able to unlock the Guild's vault without two keys because of what he stole from the Twilight Sepulcher...the Skeleton Key. By doing this, he's compromised our ties to Nocturnal and in essence, caused our luck to run dry.” explained Karliah.  
“So...this Skeleton Key...it opens any door?” asked Brynjolf.  
“Well...yes. But the Key isn't only restricted to physical barriers. All of us possess untapped abilities...the potential to wield great power, securely sealed within our minds. Once you realize the Key can access these traits, the potential becomes limitless.  
“Sounds like no one should possess it.” stated Catriona.  
“Good, then you understand why this is about more than just Mercer's lust for power. If the Key isn't returned to its lock in the Twilight Sepulcher, things will never be the same for the Guild. As time passed, our luck would diminish to the point of non-existence. And whether you know it or not, our uncanny luck defines our trade.” explained Karliah.  
“First time I've ever gone out to return something...” stated Brynjolf, rubbing the back of his head with his other hand on his hip, feeling strange about all of this still.  
“Very true. In our line of work, it's quite rare we set out to return a stolen item to its rightful owner. We must travel to the Dwarven Ruins called Irkngthand. That is where Mercer is headed according to the plans you've retrieved from his home. I will meet you both there. Good luck, be careful, and walk with the shadows.” said Karliah, walking out of the large chamber leaving them behind.  
They exchanged glances again and Catriona said,  
“So...I guess we're Nightingales now, eh?”  
“Aye...that we are, lass. I still don't know how I feel about this whole bound to a Daedric goddess thing, but...if it helps us kill Mercer, than I could care less about this binding Oath. We're Nightingales now...and we must hold these positions highly and confidently. And we must take them very seriously, we can't speak to anyone of what happened here today, alright, Cat? We need to keep it a secret until Karliah thinks it's the right time to reveal it to anyone.” answered Brynjolf.  
She nodded and said,  
“I just hope that maniac doesn't kill us...I'm definitely not ready to die.” she said, afraid.  
He pulled her into another embrace, the same one he gave her in the Cistern before they came here.

She hugged him around his waist again. Brynjolf brought his hood down, along with the mask, and he put his hand under her chin and tilted her head upwards to make her look at him. He took her hood and mask down as well, and smiled at her. She looked a little less afraid once he did that. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the lips, and after awhile he put his forehead against hers and and had his eyes closed, saying,  
“Listen to me, lass...we need to be careful. I don't want to lose you to him...I couldn't bare it. I wouldn't be able to live anymore without you. Promise me, that you will be very careful there. I know I'll be there with you, and so will Karliah but still...please for the love of the gods, be very safe. We still don't know what that asshole is capable of. Only Karliah does, which is a disadvantage for us, he will try to target us the most.”  
She teared up with how much he cared about her, and how much he loved her. She leaned up and kissed him this time and pulled away saying,  
“You know I'm always careful, Bryn. But, you need to promise me the same thing...I couldn't bare to lose you either.”  
“I promise, Cat. Well...we should get going...we need to end his damage before he makes things worse.” stated Brynjolf.  
They exited the chamber and left Nightingale Hall, heading towards Irkngthand. They had hoped this journey wouldn't be too treacherous and had hoped that they wouldn't be too late in getting there. They didn't want Mercer to escape, he needed to die for his treachery...and the three Nightingales were going to kill him like the dog he is.


End file.
